Tease It
by SushiSellerGenta
Summary: Team CFVY has just returned back to Beacon from their first mission of the new semester. Coco decides to stay and relax while the rest of her team catches up with their friends in the cafeteria. Shortly after one of Velvet's classmates comes looking for her to work on a project. Coco notices him checking her out and decides to have a little fun with him.
1. Chapter 1

Team CFVY had just gotten back to Beacon after their first mission of the new semester and they were all pretty tired. The mission was only supposed to last a couple of days but it ended up lasting closer to a week, and they had all missed the dance which they were supposed to have organized. The second their dorm room door closed Coco took her scarf, boots, and pants off. It was a lot of work looking this fashionable all the time, especially in combat, so whenever she didn't feel like doing anything the rest of the day, she just lounged around in a shirt and shorts or her underwear.

"I guess this means we're bringing your lunch and dinner back to the room?" Velvet asked her leader

"Just lunch for now. I might get dressed again for dinner." Coco answered while getting her "relaxation shirt" out of the closet, which was actually just one of her school uniform shirts, and started changing into it.

Coco hopped onto her bed and started reading the new issue of Vague magazine that she had picked up from the mail desk downstairs. This issue had a sneak peek at the new summer fashions that were shown at the years biggest fashion show in Remnant. She then noticed Velvet still in the room looking nervous while Yatsu and Fox were gone.

"What is it Velvet?" Coco asked a little worried.

Velvet held out a book and said "Th-thank you for letting me borrow this Coco." She answered shyly. It was the spring catalog for Goodwitch's Goods, a lingerie store owned by Professor Goodwitch's family.

"Heh, anytime Velvet. Did you pick something out that will blow Yatsu's mind?" She asked relieved that it wasn't anything serious.

"I think so." Velvet replied. The two had grown very close after Yatsu saved her from Cardin's bullying last semester and had started dating a couple of months ago.

Velvet left the room and Coco saw that Yatsu and Fox were waiting for her outside. "I'm glad she doesn't get left behind anymore." She said to herself and went back to reading her magazine.

A short time later she heard a knocking on the door. Not wanting to get up, she just said loudly "Its unlocked." She expected it to be one of their friends or classmates wanting to catch up, but she had never seen this guy before.

"Is Velvet here?" He asked looking around

"No, they went to get lunch. What do you need her for? She replied.

"Well, she is my partner for a project in Professor Port's class, and since you guys are back now he will be expecting it to be done soon." He answered her and noticed how she was just wearing a shirt that had only been buttoned a few times to show off some of her cleavage, her toned stomach that had slightly visible abs, and a pair of black boy shorts. He immediately moved his eyes elsewhere, but she had noticed and a mischievous grin appeared on her face.

She used to tease the rest of her teammates all the time, but stopped when Velvet and Yatsu started dating. She kept on with Fox for a while talking mostly using innuendos and smacking him on the ass whenever she walked by, anything to get a reaction out of him. One day though, he stopped reacting and that took all the fun out of it for her. She was going to enjoy this. Now all she needed was a catalyst to start the process.

Her catalog caught his eye and he turned to look at the cover and asked "Is that Professor Goodwitch on that magazine?"

"Perfect." She thought to herself and then responded "No, its just her sister it does look a lot like her though. Feel free to take it into the bathroom and have at it if you want. Just try not to get the pages sticky… if you know what I mean." She said slyly. He had no idea how to respond to that. He was like a deer in headlights. Was she serious or was she joking? If she was joking should he play along or not? He was about to respond when she said "Actually can you hand it to me? I just remembered there is something in there I want to buy."

He turned around to do so and then he felt something on him. He looked down and saw her arms around his neck, embracing him. Then something soft pressed against his back. He froze and thought to himself "This has to be a dream." She pressed closer to him and then he noticed something that made him extremely uncomfortable and caused him to blurt out "Oh my gosh she isn't wearing a bra."

"That would be correct." She whispered into his ear.

"Oh fuck, I said that out loud!" He started to panic "Wait, did I say that out loud too?" He waited a few seconds. No response. Ok good, he was back inside his head. His thoughts raced, trying to find some way to calm down, but it didn't work and he started breathing heavily, almost as if he were on the edge of hyper-ventilation.

Coco decided to loosen her grip on him and upon doing so noticed that he wasn't actually having an asthma attack; he was probably just panicking. "Sorry about that, I'm just feeling rather affectionate today." She lied and added "Oh, and also there is nothing to panic about, they're just boobs. Most of the guys I know would love to have gotten as close to them as you just did."

His breathing having returned to normal, he now responded to her "Oh yeah I don't doubt that. It's just that I don't even know you but, you look so fine it just sent me into a shock is all."

"Fine, huh?" She thought to herself. _This guy might not be so easy after all if he is acknowledging that he was checking me out while I'm dressed like this_. "Oh, well I'm Coco and I'm real fun once you get to know me." She told him while moving her sunglasses to wink at him. "What about you?"

"I'm Anon." He said with a slight crack in his voice. He cringed when he heard it. She couldn't help but laugh a little at his reaction to that and upon seeing her laugh he said "I think I'll just go now. Tell Velvet I was looking for her."

She regained her composure, got off the bed, walked in front of him and said in a semi-seductive tone "Oh come on, stay a while. You know you want to." Then put her arms around his neck again.

Almost instinctively he put his hands on her waist and then glanced down at her cleavage and thought to himself "Oh my God. What am I doing?"

She noticed this and moved a hand to his chin, moved his head up and said "Hey now, I know they're covered but my eyes are up here. Although I don't blame you for wanting to get a better view of my boobs, they are pretty nice. Maybe one day you'll get to see them…if you play your cards right." It took all his willpower to hold himself up on the pile of jelly that was known just a few seconds ago as his legs.

"Oh man I am stuffed. I sure missed this place's food." Coco heard Fox say through the walls and then said "Well, looks like Velvet will be showing up in a minute. We'll talk again later hot stuff." Then gave him a kiss on the cheek. The door opened just as his legs gave way and the rest of team CFVY saw Coco laughing her ass off with a catatonic male on the floor of their room.

Velvet put her hand up to her forehead and the other under her elbow and muttered "Fucking hell Coco…"


	2. Chapter 2

It had been a couple of days since he passed out on the floor of team CFVY's dorm room, but here he was again. At least that succubus Coco wasn't here. Velvet, however, was here though and they had finally started to work on the project for Professor Port's class, a paper on battle theory. Velvet had noticed that he was still kind of out there.

"Hey Anon." She said nudging him

"Huh…oh sorry, I guess I spaced out." He replied

"You were thinking about Coco again weren't you?" She asked

"Maybe…" He said, giving off a slight blush. Velvet sighed

"I'm sorry anon, but she isn't into you. She just likes using her body and sexuality to mess with people. She did it to us, too when we had just formed as a team, but once I started dating Yatsu, and when Fox stopped paying attention to it she quit."

"Oh, ok." He said dejectedly

Velvet felt like she had just impaled him with Yatsu's sword. It's better he know now before he tried asking her on a date, right? She thought to herself before saying

"I'm not saying that she is a bad person. She is a great friend and leader, but just like everyone else she does have her faults."

Just then Velvet's scroll rang. She looked down to see who it was and her face lit up.

"Hey Yatsu, what's up? What? Right now? But I really need to work on this paper…" She blushed and smiled, then continued on "Ok then, the usual?...See you in a bit, love you" 

"So, break time, I guess?" He asked Velvet

"Heh, yeah, sorry." Velvet responded

"No, its fine, we got a page and a half done so far." He said, saving the file on his laptop and added "Go enjoy yourself."

"Thanks." She said, still blushing while getting something from her drawer and leaving.

He decided to get up and stretch. He was feeling kind of stiff from sitting on the floor for a couple of hours. A few minutes passed and then the door opened. In walked Coco, rather sweaty in a brown sports bra, black gym shorts.

"Oh man, what a workout!" She said as she looked around, and saw no one in the room. Coco reached for the bottom of her sports bra, and started to get undressed. She stopped when she saw the top of Anon's head between the beds in the middle of the room.

"Hey there Anon. I was just about to take my top off before I saw you," She said.

"Oh, hey Coco" he responded and then went back to work. The sting of what Velvet had told him earlier was trying to claw its way back into the front of his mind He pushed it back because, deep down he knew it was too good to be true. Maybe I'll play along with her now that I know that its all just a game he thought to himself.

Coco walked over to him, looked at the computer and asked "So, what are you working on?"

"Just the paper for Port's class. Velvet is taking a break. She went to go see Yatsu for a bit." He answered. He looked up at her to see a bead of sweat drip down her chin and watched as it rolled down into her cleavage.

She noticed and said "Again with the staring at my boobs. I take it you like what you see then…I was gonna make you work for it, but what the hell? Do you want to join me in the shower?"

He almost said yes but his better judgment stopped him. He had a feeling she would know something was up if his personality did a complete 180 after their last encounter. "N-no I should really keep working on this," he said swiftly moving his attention back to his computer, hoping that it seemed like a natural reaction.

She grabbed some things out of her drawer and put them in the bathroom, then took her gym shorts off revealing those accursed boyshorts again. This time, her back was to him giving him a view of her glorious ass, which caused him to instinctively bite his lower lip.

"I thought you would like that," she said. Just wanted to let you know that I've got more going for me than my boobs." She then closed the bathroom door.

"Dammit! She played me again," he said as he heard the shower turn on, unsure of how she knew he was checking out her ass. A moment had barely passed before he heard Coco's voice again.

"Hey, Anon, could you do me a favor?" Coco said, peeking her head out of the bathroom

"Sure, what is it?" He responded wondering what she had in store for him now

"This is kind of embarrassing, but while I was flirting just now I…left my towels out there," She said with a sigh

He looked over to where she was a minute ago and chuckled. Sure enough there they were. He got up, retrieved them, and walked over to the bathroom. He handed her the towels and could see out of the corner of his eye a rather large mirror on the wall. He tried discreetly looking at it to see how much of her body was visible in it. He couldn't see much more than what was visible during their last encounter, except her ass and a little bit of side boob.

"Damn, you really do have a nice body Coco," he said

Coco's eyes broke contact for a moment, but returned to his with a mischievous glimmer.

"No peeking, unless you want in too," she teased.

Anon grinned and decided to tease her back.

"Maybe I will," he said, reaching down and grabbing the hem of his shirt and pulling it upward. "After all, I'm already here."

Coco's eyes widened and Anon laughed, dropping his shirt back into place.

"I'm just kidding, Coco."

She snorted a laugh and pressed the door closed, leaving Anon alone in CFVY's room once again. He stared at the door for a long moment before smiling and returning to his work.

On the other side of the bathroom door Coco took a deep breath and shook her head. She'd wanted to slam the door in his face but when he started flirting back it made her feel... It caught her off guard.

"I'm going to have to come at him hard," she muttered to herself, turning the shower on hot. "Make up for the confidence boost my mistake gave him..."

She stepped under the spray, feeling the water run down her body so hot it almost burned.

"He's the one who's supposed to be off guard... Not me."

Back in CFVY's room...Anon sat back down on the floor and got back to work when he heard the door open and saw Velvet in the hallway hugging someone. She walked in the room, closed the door

"Ok, so back to work now, I guess,"

"I hope you don't mind that I did some work while you were gone," he told her.

"Not at all," she responded and added "You're looking a lot happier than when I left. What happened?"

"Well, I figured if this is all a game to Coco, then I guess I'll play along and see what happens," He answered.

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea, Anon," she told him

"Well, it's too late to back down now. I already started when she said she forgot her towels when she was 'flirting' with me earlier," he responded

"What did you do?" She asked with some morbid curiosity

He filled Velvet in on what happened while she was gone. Thirty minutes later, they heard the shower stop. Shortly after, Coco came out in her underwear, towel-drying her hair. She exchanged greetings with Velvet, then went over to the hat rack, got her beret, sat down right next to him, and put her arm around him.

"So…are you angry about what I did?" He asked, trying to sound a little worried

"I was at first, but then I realized how much courage it took to do that. Especially how you did it without me noticing. You have been so obvious when checking me out before. I like that in a guy." She answered confidently. Velvet was shocked she couldn't tell if Coco was being sincere or just teasing him some more. "Don't think it'll go unpunished though. I'll get you back for it when you least expect it," She said slyly "I might even try to get you all hot and bothered while you are giving your presentation in Professor Port's class."

"Coco, please don't. It's a team grade and if you make him mess up, I'll fail too." Velvet pleaded.

"Oh all right Velv but only for you. Although it would be pretty hard to do, I'm not even in that class to begin with" she responded.

"Its not like Professor Port would notice. He would probably be too busy thinking of what Grimm slaying story he should tell next. Am I right Velvet?" He said

"Definitely." She responded with a laugh

Coco took her arm off of him and lay her head down in his lap while she thought about her next move. She noticed him staring at her again and said in a slightly angry voice

"You know there is a limit to the number of times you can stare at my boobs and still have me feeling flattered."

"I wasn't staring there. I was looking at your eyes. I haven't seen you without your sunglasses before. They're really nice," he told her.

"Heh, you'll have to try harder than that if you want to get in my pants, Anon. I, on the other hand, can get into yours quite easily and I don't even have to unbutton them." She got up and sat down in his lap, making sure to go as far back as she could. It wasn't long before she felt something pushing up against her. Maybe she had gone too far this time. She had never been up against a guy while he was erect before and was starting to get a little nervous.

He was about to open his mouth to concede when he noticed that her breathing was kind of heavy, much like his was during their first encounter. Could she be in uncharted territory right now he pondered. He noticed the view he had of her body right now almost as if he were seeing it through her eyes

"Wow Coco, thanks for the awesome view. Your boobs look amazing from this angle."

There was that same awkward feeling she had while in the bathroom before getting in the shower. Coco was getting really frustrated now, why wasn't this working? She needed to clear her head, so she pretended to stretch while taking a deep breath thinking about where to go from there. She could only think of two things to do at this point that might turn him back into the nervous wreck he was during their last encounter. She decided to go with the lesser of the two evils. She didn't really want to do this, but she didn't want to lose this battle. While the alternative might be more embarrassing for him she wouldn't feel right doing it. She leaned forward, put her arms behind her back, and with a heavy sigh unhooked her bra.

Seeing the situation unfold, Velvet had taken the laptop away from him sensing he wouldn't be doing any more writing today. She went to go fetch her headphones out of her schoolbag and put on some music to tune out what was happening.

"Coco stop. I'm not going to let you do that."

Coco expected to hear Velvet saying that but instead it was Anon who said it. She scooted off his lap and turned to face him

"Wow, a guy turning down a chance to see some boobs. Never thought I would see this."

"Yeah well, it wasn't easy, but my conscience is stronger than my boner," He told her

She laughed hard, but it didn't last long. She watched in horror while her bra straps slid down her arms in slow motion, realizing that she had forgotten to re-hook the clasp on her bra. She also watched Anon's arms reach out and move them back up her arms, but it was no use. They had slid too far down. She was fully exposed.

"Well, at least I tried."

"Yeah, you did. Most guys would've thought that was Karma paying them back for their selfless sacrifice of turning down boobs and just let it happen."

Both of them laughed at that.

"So. Are you going to fix it, or what?" He asked awkwardly trying to avoid looking at them.

"Nah, fuck it. I'm sure you saw them at one point while trying to keep my bra from sliding off. Like I said last time they're just boobs."

Anon once again reached for the hem of his shirt, but this time took it off completely

"There now we're both topless."

Coco chuckled.

"I appreciate the gesture, but if you feel like we need to be even, then I'm gonna need to see what was pressed up against me while I was in your lap."

"Alright, fair is fair. Let me just get it back to the way it was," He teased, while staring intently at her now bare breasts.

"Ha ha, very funny. Just get rid of your pants. I'm sure I can make it happen quicker than you can," she teased back and thought about how much more fun it was when it was back and forth with someone, instead of just being one sided.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been close to two weeks since he decided to start playing along with Coco's teasing, and the two had formed a strange friendship based on it. Every now and then Coco would invite him to hang out with her team, but mainly he was her new gym buddy whenever Velvet was too busy with school or Yatsu. They walked into the school gymnasium. Coco was wearing her brown sports bra with black shorts again, and Anon was wearing an X-Ray t-shirt with black and green basketball shorts.

"The usual routine?" Coco asked him.

"Sounds good to me." Anon responded.

The usual routine consisted of sparring as a warm up, lifting weights, and finishing off with some cardio. For someone who used a Gatling gun as a weapon, Coco was actually really good at hand to hand combat. He had gotten some good hits on her, but today she was victorious, and that win broke the tie of the win-loss records he kept in his head. Later, while Anon was spotting for Coco when she was bench pressing, his eyes started to drift from the barbell to her body. He wasn't really into fit girls before coming to Beacon, but that changed during his first month here.

Coco noticed his eyes wandering and shouted "Anon!" That snapped him out of it. "You're supposed to be making sure this bar doesn't crush my throat, not checking me out."

He grabbed the barbell and helped her put it back in its resting position. Last up was cardio, and they decided to run laps around the gym on the indoor track. They ran and talked about what they had been up to for about thirty minutes. Coco, who was always looking to tease, told Anon about some new lingerie she bought last weekend. He was trying hard to not picture her in it, which only made it easier for that to happen.

"Coco, stop. I don't want to get a boner while running," he told her.

"I'm wearing the panties right now maybe I'll give you a closer look tonight," she whispered.

That caused him to lose his focus, tripping over his own feet. He picked himself up and saw Coco doubled over laughing her ass off once again.

"Oh man that was great," she said, and took a deep breath. "I only wish I had done it before my ab exercises so it wouldn't hurt to laugh."

They walked over to the lockers that contained their gym bags. Anon took a swig of his water bottle "That was a good workout, except for the part where I fell on my face. Ready to head back?"

Coco snickered, patted him on the back, and said "Yeah I think so."

They arrived at team CFVY's dorm and Coco was about to stick her key in the door when she saw Velvet's special "Do not disturb" sign on the door. It was a small magnetic photo frame with a wavy purple border that had a picture of her behind Yatsu smiling with her arms draped around his neck. It didn't say anything on it, but the team and all their friends knew not to enter when it was up. She turned to him and asked

"Can I shower in your room?" She pointed at Velvet's sign and added "I think Yatsu and Velvet might be getting it on,"

"Sure thing." He answered.

"I'm glad I decided to pack some extra clothes in case I decided to shower in the locker room,"

He opened the door to his team's dorm, and threw his bag on his bed. Coco did the same and then unpacked her extra clothes and started to get undressed. Anon's back was to her while he got enough towels out for the both of them, so he had no idea what was going on behind him.

"So, which one of us is going first?" He asked her.

"Actually I was thinking we could go at the same time,"

"Haha. Good one Coco, but seriously which of us is going first?"

"I am serious. Consider this me fulfilling my promise to get you back for peeping on me last time,"

"Ok." He turned around and saw Coco facing him sitting on his bed topless and taking off her gym shorts "One question though. How is me seeing you fully naked payback for seeing you partly naked?" He inquired.

"Just think about it, the both of us together in the same shower. Me washing my boobs, and you, watching me, getting aroused and embarrassed." Coco responded slyly

His face turned red from the mental image.

"Damn. You have a point there. Although I could just refuse,"

"Nope. Too late I already invoked it so you have to do it."

"Really regretting agreeing to those terms now. Even though I knew you could tell I was hard a couple of weeks ago, I wasn't embarrassed since you weren't actually seeing it," He said nervously as he started undressing, and a thought occurred to him "Wait a second, was Velvet in on this?"

"Gosh no," Coco said with a sly smile "That was purely coincidence. I was gonna suggest hitting the showers in the gym and invoke it there, but there were too many people. It's usually empty at that time." She answered him.

The only thing covering the both of them now was their underwear, and his were feeling rather tight right now. Coco took his hand and led him into the bathroom. Anon gulped so loud it was audible as if he was a death row inmate being led to his execution. Coco silently chuckled at that, closed the bathroom door, turned on the shower.

They both stood there for a few moments. "I think it's only fair that you go first since you have seen me topless twice now. Also I've been curious to see what you've got going on down there since I was on your lap a couple of weeks ago." Coco told him looking at the bulge that was being covered by his boxer briefs.

Anon took a deep breath to regain his composure. He reached for his shorts and pulled them down exposing himself to her. He watched Coco slip her boyshorts off and his now fully erect member twitched at the sight of her fully nude. Upon seeing this, a mischievous grin appeared on her face and she said "I wonder if a guy has ever blown his load without being touched,"

Anon glared at her. He walked over to the shower and held his hand out to test the water, then got in and Coco followed him. She was directly under the showerhead and he watched as the water made its way down her body. From her head to her breasts and below the waist too.

"Holy shit, this is an amazing sight to see. I'm starting to question how this is punishment again,"

"Well Anon, its because you can look but you can't touch,"

"You know, you're an evil genius when it comes to teasing," he told her after a heavy sigh.

"Thanks, I try." Coco responded.

Later while Anon was washing his body Coco handed him the shampoo since she was done with it. He took it from her and thanked her, then put it down until he needed it. _He needed to do something about this because staring at her body with those round perky breasts and that glorious ass was giving him some serious blue balls. That's it, _he thought to himself_ I can't take it anymore_, he rinsed his body off and then started to masturbate.

"What do you think you're doing?" Coco asked

"Dammit Coco, please don't tell me I can't do this too! I'm getting some serious blue balls here, and this shower is too fucking small for me to turn around in with you in it too," he replied with a frustrated tone.

"Ok, fine. Maybe this was a little more torturous than I intended it to be, but…"

"Thank you!" he interrupted and was so happy he hugged her.

The joy was soon replaced with embarrassment as he realized what he was doing, and he felt her breasts against him, and she felt his manhood against her. He quickly retreated to the back wall of the shower and apologized profusely. "I'm so sorry Coco. I was so overcome with joy that I completely forgot we were both naked,"

"I-its ok Anon. Its no big deal. I hope you enjoyed it though, because that is the last time you will feel my boobs without my permission," she said trying to brush it off, but her face was just as red as his was.

She took a deep breath to calm herself and said "Ok, now as I was saying before that happened." She paused and got on her knees "Let me help you out with it as a way to make amends."

Anon then watched as she grabbed and licked his shaft a couple of times, and then took him into her mouth. _No way is this happening right now_ he thought to himself. Coco started bobbing her head back and forth, and after a short while she started humming too. The vibrations it caused were enough to almost send him over the edge. He was able to hold back though, he wasn't about to let this end before it even began.

"Ohhh. Yes Coco, keep doing that," he said between deep breaths.

He heard her stop humming. He looked down, and saw her wink at him.

"Of course you stop when I tell you not to." He said with a laugh.

She started and stopped a couple of more times, but after the third time he was at his limit.

"Coco, I'm about to…" he hoped she was able to get the message, because he wasn't able to finish it, and he released inside her mouth. He was on the verge of panicking. He expected her to start choking on his fluids, but she didn't, instead she just kept on humming and then stopping.

"No no no." He said angrily, "Please don't let this be another dream." He quickly grabbed the shampoo bottle to do the reading test. He had recently learned that you can't read in dreams.

"Fuck!" he shouted and threw the shampoo bottle down. Back in the real world, Anon opened his eyes to try and find the culprit of his latest Coco dream. He had had a few dreams about Coco since he started playing along with her teasing, but this was the first time a dream had gone that far.

He heard the humming again and also felt something vibrating in his pants pocket.

_Note to self, take your scroll out of your pocket before taking a nap so it doesn't make you jizz in your pants._ He wrote down on his mental notepad. He pulled it out of his pocket and answered it with a yawn.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Where the bloody hell are you?" A female voice responded

"Velvet? Is that you?"

"Yes. Now answer me dammit!"

"I had some free time so I took a nap,"

"You need to get to class. Did you forget it was presentation day?"

"Shit! Alright, I'm on my way." He said, ending the call.

Anon got out of his bed and stretched, then went to the bathroom to freshen up…and to change his pants. A few minutes later he exited the bathroom and checked his watch. It read 1:45 pm.

"Damn. Only 15 minutes to get there I just hope he doesn't pick us to go first." He said as he grabbed his bag and walked out the door. Luck was on his side as he didn't run into anyone on the long walk across campus to Professor Port's class. He looked at his watch again and it read 2:10 pm. _Ten minutes late I just hope he didn't call on us yet_ he thought to himself, and was about to open the door when he heard a familiar voice.

"Tsk tsk Anon, why are you late for class?"

"Hey Coco, I took a nap and overslept," He said still facing the door

"Oh? Have any good dreams? Maybe one about yours truly," She asked.

You have no idea he thought to himself, and then said "Maybe and maybe not."

"You'll have to tell me about it sometime, I'll let you go now good luck with your presentation." She said and gave him a pat on the ass and started to walk away. A few seconds later she turned around and added "Oh, before I forget, Velvet flaked on being my workout buddy tonight to go out with Yatsu, so, gym tonight?"

"I'll have to check my schedule, but I think I'm free."

"Great. See you there."

Later that night, Anon grabbed his gym bag, and was about to head out the door when he caught a glimpse of what he was wearing in his teammate Hazel's vanity mirror that was on a drawer next to the door. It was an X-Ray t-shirt he then looked down to see black and green basketball shorts. He wasn't sure if it was his dream that had subconsciously made him choose these clothes or not, and brushed that thought aside, but then recalled what Coco said about Velvet choosing to go out with Yatsu tonight, and how that would most likely lead to a do not disturb sign on CFVY's door. He considered calling Coco and cancelling, but instead decided to change his outfit and just be extra cautious around her tonight.

"No way can I handle that kind of torture twice in one day," he said on his way back to the closet.


	4. Chapter 4

Coco had just finished her post workout shower and Anon was kind enough to let her use his room. The reason being that Velvet had hung her do not disturb sign that was only recognizable to her friends and teammates on the door of CFVY's dorm. Coco was kind of bummed that Anon had just left his key with her she was planning on getting back at him tonight for peeping on her a couple of weeks ago. She put the extra clothes from her gym bag on and headed towards the library. Ten minutes later, she opened the doors to the library and saw him almost immediately sitting at the computers. Coco walked over to him and put her hands over his eyes and said "Guess Who?"

"Hey Coco, what's up?"

"Just bringing your key back. I guess your gonna go take a shower now?" She asked him.

"Not right now I'm still kind of busy," he responded.

"Looks to me like your just browsing and killing time until I got back,"

"Darn. You found me out," he said coldly.

Coco didn't like that tone. "What the hell is wrong with you today? If you don't like what I'm doing then tell me, because this passive aggressive bullshit pisses me off. I know our friendship is different than most peoples, but we are still friends."

"You're right. I'm sorry, it's just this dream I had that messed with my head a little. It kind of freaked me out is all," He told her and logged off the computer, then stood up and motioned for her to follow him.

On their way back to the dorms he started to tell her about his dream, and how some of things from it actually happened tonight.

"It was so weird seeing these things happen a second time like when you talked about buying that new lingerie while we were running, and it caused me to trip, but I caught myself since I knew it was going to happen. This wasn't my first choice of clothes either. When I was about to leave I caught a glimpse of myself in Hazel's mirror, and I was wearing the exact same clothes that I did in the dream,"

"Wow that's really something. What else happened?"

"Remember when you asked if you were in my dream when you saw me outside of class today?"

"Yeah, what of it." She responded.

"Please don't get mad or anything, but you gave me a blowjob in my dream,"Anon's face turned red as he said it.

Coco playfully punched him in the arm and said "Look at you putting the moves on dream Coco. So how was I, and how did you do it?"

"It was pretty damn good for a dream, and it happened as an apology for you thinking your revenge plot was a little too much for me to handle," Anon answered.

"So that's why you gave me your key and ran to the library, because you knew it was coming. I could have stopped you by saying the magic words, but like I said it will be when you least expect it. So tell me what it was. I want to know if dream Coco thinks like I do," Coco told him

"Basically we showered together, which had me wondering how this could be punishment for seeing you almost naked when I was giving you the towels. You pretty much told me it was gonna be a slow burn, and that I couldn't touch you at all." He wanted to tell her how amazing she looked with the water running down her nude body, but that would probably make it weird.

"Wow. Are you a fucking psychic? That is pretty damn close to what I was going to do, although the only difference is that we wouldn't actually shower together. I believe that once you get physical with teasing you can't really go back and might as well just become fuck buddies at that point. Which is why that blowjob you dreamt about would never happen…in that situation at least."

Coco and Anon arrive at CFVY's door and she is about to put her key when she sees the sign is still up.

"Dammit Velvet, why did tonight have to be the long night?" Coco mutters under her breath then sighs and tells Anon "So, apparently Velvet and Yatsu are still getting it on. What do you want to do now?"

"Well we could go out and get some food or something," He answered.

"I may be wearing a shirt and pants now, but these are still gym clothes, so I would rather not," Coco told him

"Right, because the fabulous Coco Adel can't go out looking unfashionable." He joked

"It's a heavy burden, but its one I bear with pride." Coco responded

Anon paused to think for a minute. "Well we could go back to my room and watch some movies on Schneeflix, but on one condition,"

"Oh? And what would that be?"

"No revenge plots tonight."

"Ok, I guess I can agree to that. Also no romance movies, because I always end up making out with whoever I'm watching them with," Coco said with a wink

"Romance movies it is then!" Anon said jokingly while pointing dramatically in the direction of his team's dorm.

Coco laughed and pat him on the back "Sure thing Anon."

After a short walk down the hall they arrive at Anon's dorm room. He cleaned off his bed then put his laptop on it and pulled up Schneeflix.

Coco sat down next to him and put her arm around him. "So I guess this is the first time you've had a girl over huh? I'll try to be gentle."

"Very funny Coco." Anon responded to her

Coco was scrolling through the titles when she saw the latest season of Remnant's Next Top Designer and said "Ok, we are definitely watching some of this tonight. I might even stay the night and marathon it. This bed is big enough for both of us right?"

"I dunno. Do Yatsu and Velvet usually sleep in the same bed on nights like this?" He asked her in response

"Well…"Coco paused "That isn't the best example since he is so big and she is a little short."

"I guess we'll just have to deal with it when we get there. I'm fine with letting you have the bed though Coco,"

"Oh Anon, you are so sweet, but you are just wanting me to say no we can share it and then you feel me up while I'm sleeping. If you want to feel my boobs just ask, but I get something in return." Coco told him with a devious grin.

"Coco."

Her eyes widened. _Was he actually going to do it without asking what she wanted_? She thought to herself

"You're taking this a little far. I thought we were just going to hang out and watch some movies tonight, also I was being serious about giving you the bed."

"Well I guess it's my turn to apologize now. I'm sorry I haven't really had a teasing mark turn into a friend before so I'm still trying to adjust," Coco said and removed her arm from him.

"It's fine. I've never had a girl friend that I could be this forward with before,"

Coco raised an eyebrow "Girlfriend? You see me topless once and suddenly I'm your girl?"

"You know what I meant Coco." Anon retorted

"Yeah yeah, I know. I'm just messing with you," Coco told him.

"Just hurry up and pick something to watch before this gets even more awkward."

Coco laughed to herself and resumed scrolling through the titles naming them off one at a time.

"Mistral Hills Cop, Grimm-man, Nevermore. A horror movie filmed using real Grimm…how the fuck is that even possible?"

"Want to find out?" He asked

Coco nodded and pressed play. What followed was the most realistic looking horror movie they had ever seen. A couple of hours later the movie ended.

"Wow that was intense. The fear on the actors' faces was so real that is some great acting," Anon said

"Definitely. I think I'm going to have to show this during the next CFVY movie night. Velvet probably won't let go of Yatsu for at least a week."

"I take it Velvet isn't a fan of scary movies?" Anon asked her

"She watches them but she can't really handle them without Yatsu." Coco answered

Suddenly the dorm room door opens, and Coco, still a little spooked from the movie puts her hand on his. In walks the rest of Anon's team, and he greets them upon seeing them.

"Sorry Anon, didn't know you were bringing a girl over, should we leave?" His teammate Wendy asked

"No, its fine we're just watching some movies." He answered

Coco had to resist the urge to put her arms around him, because she recognized the girl who didn't speak, and she knew that Coco had a reputation as a tease. She wanted to make a good first impression on his team, so that girl wouldn't think Anon is just another mark for her and inform the rest of his team.

"Hey guys. I'm Anon's friend Coco. Nice to finally meet you all." She said flashing her best smile and waved at them

They greeted her and Anon pointed out who was who. On the left was the girl Coco recognized her name was Hazel, in the middle was the other girl Wendy, and on the right was Ulysses. Hazel noticed Coco's hand on top of Anon's pointed it out and said "Are you sure you guys don't want to be left alone?"

Coco looked where Hazel was pointing and felt the now familiar awkwardness from when Anon started playing along with her about a month ago.

"Oh yeah I'm sure. We just got finished watching this really intense scary movie and I guess the door startled me," Coco told them

"Alright, but if you change your mind I got a couple of spare condoms in my stash," Ulysses said

"Don't think that will happen, but thanks anyways man." Anon responded

Wendy and Ulysses decided to turn in for the night, but Hazel put on some headphones and got her computer out. Anon looked at his watch it read 10:30 pm and he asked Coco if she wanted to head back to her room, but she declined because they still haven't watched Remnant's Next Top Designer yet. Each episode was roughly 50 minutes because of no commercials, and after the third episode Anon was starting to fall asleep.

"Hey Coco, I think I'm gonna go to sleep now do you want to stay here or head back?"

"I'll stay here. I'm sure they're asleep now, but I'll shoot Velvet and the others a text letting them know where I am,"

"Alright. Do you want the bed?" Anon asked

"Thanks, but I don't mind sharing. I'll try not to push you off in my sleep."

Anon chuckled at that "Ok, good night."

During the fifth episode Coco's eyes started to get heavy so she decided to go to sleep and finish watching another day. She put Anon's laptop on the nightstand next to his bed, took her sunglasses off, then put her arms inside her shirt and took her bra off and put it in her gym bag and went to sleep.

The next morning Coco woke up to a mostly empty room the only people in it were her and Anon. Ok good I was hoping they would be gone she thought to herself and got ready to play a prank on him that she thought of last night. She fooled around with her hair to make it look messy and pulled her right arm out of her t-shirt and covered up so it would look like she was topless then put her arm around his waist and waited for him to wake up.

About twenty minutes later she felt some movement and saw Anon stretching and yawning.

"Morning sleepyhead." She said trying to mimic a sweet and bubbly tone

"Hey Coco, whats up?" He asked her

"Just thinking about last night," She answered

"The movie keep you from sleeping well?"

"That's not what I meant Anon. Last night was amazing because, it was actually my first time, and it was everything I hoped it would be. So thanks for that." She told him and then leaned over and kissed him on the cheek

Anon looked over at Coco, and saw skin where her shirt should be, and how she was covered up was like how people on TV were after having sex. A million thoughts raced through his head in a matter of seconds. _Did I use a condom? Was I good? I think so because of what she just said. Was this because of me telling her about the blowjob dream?_ And worst of all _Oh shit what if the condom broke? She might be pregnant. How can we afford to have a kid? Would she even want to keep it? _

Coco seeing the look of absolute terror on his face told him "Its ok Anon, I'm on the pill you aren't going to be a dad."

Anon let out what seemed to be a minute long sigh of relief. He then pulled the covers back to get out of the bed, and upon seeing that they were both fully dressed glared at Coco.

"Fucking hell Coco I just about had a fucking stroke because of that." Anon told her

"Sorry, I thought you would react more like 'Shit! I had sex with Coco and don't even remember it.' Instead of 'Fuck, what if I got her pregnant.'" Coco said with her tone going back to normal and putting her arm back in her shirt

"My first thoughts were actually if I used protection, and was I good enough, then they became pregnancy scares. Are you really on the pill?" Anon asked her

"Hey now don't be getting any ideas just because I said that to you," She told him

"I guess I'll take that as a yes. So was that your backup revenge plan?"

"Well it was just going to be a prank but since it worked out to point of freaking you the fuck out I guess I can say we are even now." Coco answered him


	5. Chapter 5

Velvet nervously paced back and forth in team CFVY's dorm room. Coco hadn't come back last night.

"Velvet relax. I'm sure she just roomed with a friend because of our date last night," Yatsu reassured her.

"She would have texted me if she did Yatsuhashi." She said rather forcefully. Yatsu arched an eyebrow. Velvet very rarely used his full name.

Just then the door opened and in walked Coco, who was immediately squeezed by Velvet.

"Hey Velv, what's up?" Coco asked, wondering what was with the sudden display of affection.

"You didn't come back or text last night so I got worried-"

"-I did text you though. I spent the night at Anon's dorm." Coco told her while trying to get her scroll out.

"Coco please tell me you didn't…" Velvet started.

"No Velvet I didn't," Coco interrupted. "though I did make him think we did and that was a lot of fun. We just watched movies and stuff." Coco checked her text history and saw that there wasn't any text to Velvet. "Oh shit. I guess I didn't send it after all I'm sorry Velv."

Later that day in the cafeteria Anon was eating lunch with the rest of his team when he saw Coco strut up to his table and sat down next to him. She greeted everyone and turned to him. "So, Friday night myself and the rest of the team are going to Junior's club to celebrate the end of the semester, and I was wondering if you guys wanted to join us?"

"Sounds good to me. What about you guys?" Anon answered.

"Sure, why not? I've been looking for an opportunity for a random hook up." Ulysses responded eagerly.

"I might be free, but I'll get back to you. Thanks for the invite Coco." Wendy said.

Hazel looked up from her scroll. "Well it looks like I might have the room to myself, so I'll pass, thanks though."

"Awesome! Do you want to meet there or go together?" Coco asked them.

Anon looked at his teammates and they just shrugged. "I guess we'll meet you guys there, what time?"

"We'll be there at 9 pm and we might stay there until it closes around 3 am, but you guys are free to leave whenever." Coco answered with a wave of her hand.

"Alright, see you guys then." Anon responded with a smile.

Coco got up and walked away. As she left, Anon couldn't help but feel as if he was being hypnotized by the way her school uniform skirt swayed with her hips. He could look at that all day he thought to himself as he tucked back into his lunch. Finishing their lunches first, Ulysses and Wendy went ahead to their next class while Hazel stayed behind to speak with Anon.

"Hey Anon, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure Hazel, what's up?"

"Well I wasn't going to say anything, but I saw you checking out Coco as she walked away-"

"-Crap, was it that obvious Hazel?" Anon interrupted with a small grin and a hint of embarrassment in his voice.

"I'm sure people nearby could tell. Anyways my point is she has a reputation as a tease, so try not to let her lead you on too much."

"Oh, that's actually how we became friends."

"Huh?" Hazel asked looking confused.

"Well, when we first met I stopped by their dorm to find Velvet for a project we had, and Coco informed me that I had just missed her. She caught me checking her out and she started flirting with me. I was floored to say the least, she was really coming on to me hard. The next time I was over there Velvet warned me that Coco used to tease a lot and long story short I decided to start teasing her back. We've been friends ever since then."

"That is definitely one of the weirder how we met stories I have heard Anon."

"Haha yeah, we definitely have a strange friendship, but it's a lot of fun." Anon said as he looked at his watch and then added

"Oh crap! I need to get to class, later Hazel."

Hazel still couldn't believe what she had heard and silently laughed as she walked back to the dorm.

While on the way to class Anon saw Coco and Velvet and decided to chat with them. He walked up to Coco, put an arm around her neck and said "Hey guys, what's up?"

"Hey Anon, I was just walking with Velvet to Professor Port's class." Coco answered

"Oh cool, I'm heading that way too. Mind if I tag along?"

"I don't mind. So Velvet you think you will be free to go shopping with me after class today?" Coco asked her friend

"Pretty sure I will be Coco." Velvet responded.

"What are you two going shopping for?"

"I'm going to try and put together the perfect club outfit and see how many free drinks it will get me," Coco said as she put her arm around Anon's neck.

"Sounds awesome can't wait to see it on Friday." Anon grinned as he imagined what Coco had in mind for the club.

"It looks like we are just about there guys. I'll see you after class Velv, and I'll see you on Friday night Anon." Coco said putting extra emphasis on the word "you" when she said it to him, and started to walk away. Anon turned to say something, but once again got caught by the hypnotizing sway of Coco walking away in that skirt.

"Damn I love the skirts here." Anon said

Coco was barely ten feet away when she heard his comment. She grinned and put a little extra motion into her hips for the next few steps, then turned her head pulled her sunglasses down and winked at Anon.

"Crap did I say that out loud?" Anon turned to Velvet in embarrassment. Velvet rolled her eyes and nodded as they walked into Professor Port's class.

Friday night arrived and Anon, Ulysses, and Wendy were getting ready for the evening ahead at Junior's club. Anon was wearing a blue and white plaid button up shirt, dark blue jeans, and black shoes. Wendy was in the bathroom finishing up her hair and Ulysses was rummaging through his secret stash for some condoms just in case he got lucky.

"I'm ready to go whenever you guys are." Anon said leaning back against his mattress

"Found 'em! Ok I'm ready too now, just waiting on you now Wendy!" Ulysses called over towards the bathroom.

"I'll be out in a few minutes guys, hang tight." Wendy called back.

"So Anon, whats the deal with you and Coco? She fair game? I wouldn't mind trying to get some of her tonight." Ulysses asked him with a knowing grin.

"Sorry Ulysses I'm not too sure if Coco is into one night stands. Even if she was, she would definitely make you work for it. So you probably wouldn't get to sleep with her tonight."

"Alright. Thanks for the heads up, but that still doesn't answer my question about the relationship between you two." He persisted, looking at Anon rather intently.

"I'm not pursuing her if that's what you mean. If an opportunity presents itself then I'll most likely act on it because she is pretty fine yeah, but for now I'm fine with just being friends." Anon told his teammate

"Ok I'm ready, let's go." Wendy said exiting the bathroom.

They arrived at the door of Junior's club and the music was loud enough that they could tell what song was playing before walking in. Upon entering the club they saw the dance floor packed with a sea of people, many of whom he recognized from Beacon.

"Damn...looks like Coco and her team weren't the only students to have this idea." Anon said trying to make his voice heard over the music.

"Yeah, I definitely didn't expect to see this many people here." Wendy turned as she spotted someone. "Oh hey! I know her from professor Goodwitch's class. I'll see you guys back at the dorm I guess, have fun!" Wendy waved and headed off to talk with her friend.

"Alright, well I'm gonna go look for Coco, good luck in your quest to get laid man." Anon told Ulysses and waded into the crowd.

Anon remembered the conversation between Coco and Velvet about finding the perfect club outfit to land free drinks and figured the bar would be the best place to look first. He got to the bar and looked around for her signature beret. '_Ok_' he thought, _'Looks like her signature outfit doesn't include her beret, guess I'll have to look for something else._' Thankfully he didn't have to look for long as he finally spotted Coco waving at him from the other end of the bar.

"So Anon, what do you think?" Coco asked gesturing to her outfit as he walked over.

Anon looked over her outfit. She was wearing a short sleeved brown v-cut shirt that exposed a fair amount of cleavage, a short black leather skirt that came down to the top of her thighs along with some black thigh highs, and brown combat boots. He was speechless, but his body language said exactly what she wanted to hear. He brought his fist up to his mouth and bit down on his index finger right above the knuckle. He looked her over again and again, resting his eyes on her top and then even longer on the thigh highs. If there was one article of clothing that he loved seeing on girls it was thigh highs.

Coco seemed proud of the reaction she was getting. "I know, right? I've only been here like twenty minutes and I've already had three guys buy me drinks!" Coco pointed at the glasses in front of her, two of which were already empty.

"Well then I'd say the outfit is definitely working, and allow me to be number four." Anon responded while signaling the bartender.

Coco felt her cheeks get warm, but she just figured it was the alcohol starting to take effect. The bartender walked over. "Wow, what is this number four? You sure are popular tonight miss."

Coco laughed and put her arm around Anon's neck "Yeah, but I actually know this guy."

"Ah. Right then. So another hard Strawberry Sunrise?" the bartender asked, already reaching for the mix.

"Well its my first time out drinking with him, and I want to see what his taste in drinks is like. I'll leave it up to him." Coco responded and looked over to Anon.

"Alright then. How about a...umm...Goldilocks on the rocks!" Anon offered.

"Don't think I have heard of that before whats in it?" Coco asked.

"Mistral's Lost Treasure gold rum, some pineapple juice and a teaspoon of honey." The bartender supplied, mixing the ingredients.

"Sounds interesting I'll give it a shot… I didn't mean that literally give it to me in a normal sized glass."

The bartender served her the drink, and she took a few sips to wait for the taste to develop. It was a strong drink with just enough sweetness to take the edge off.

"Not bad. You pass the test Anon, we can be drinking buddies too now." Coco said with a wink.

"So, what'll it be for you sir?" The bartender asked Anon.

"I'll have the same as her."

The bartender nodded and started making another while Anon and Coco made small talk.

"So what kind of cheesy pickup lines did the first three guys use?" Anon asked her.

"None actually. They just asked if they could buy me a drink and after they ordered I talked with them for a few minutes, and told them I was meeting a friend here."

"Wow that is unbelievable, but then again maybe you just haven't been here long enough." Anon said as he received his drink from the bartender.

"Well that's just the ones that opened with the offer of drinks. There have been others that approached me differently. It didn't end well for them. I was on my second drink when this guy walks up to me and says 'Hey yo baby why don't put down your number before I don't want it no more.' I just laughed at him, and he left when he realized I was laughing at him and not his line."

Anon almost spit out his drink laughing at Coco's remarks. They continued chatting and had a few more drinks. Anon was about to order another round of drinks when she grabbed his arm and led him to the dance floor. She started moving her body in rhythm with the music then stopped. "Why aren't you dancing Anon?"

He blushed slightly. "I uhh...I'm not that great at it Coco."

"Don't worry about it. This isn't ballroom dancing, just move your body around." Coco encouraged him, pulling him out into the floor.

Coco took a few steps back, then moved back to Anon, her eyes fixed on his as she began to move her shoulders in time with the slow beat. The sight was so transfixing that he barely noticed the song picking up the pace until she turned away entirely, sweeping her arms into the air and shaking her hips back and forth. Anon felt his eyes drifting down to Coco's skirt again, but snapped out of it as Coco turned back around. Not wanting her to see him still not dancing Anon turned his body and stepped to the right as if he were dodging a punch, and then did the same to the left. Coco chuckled at his attempt. She wanted to show him to dance properly instead of just using combat dodges, but resisted the urge. She wanted to see where this was going.

Anon blushed under her gaze, then tried to motivate himself. 'Come on man you can do this just throw caution to the wind and if you do anything stupid you can blame it on the alcohol.' He decided to copy her first move and then play the rest by ear. He took a few steps back and moved a shoulder with each step, then turned around and started moonwalking towards her. She danced around him keeping her smiling face turned to his as she swayed. "That's a lot better than your first move. I'm guessing you were just trying to feel the beat before starting, huh?"

"Yeah, sure lets go with that." Anon chuckled.

They both laughed and continued dancing. As the music changed to more a relaxed beat they moved closer. As Anon's eyes met Coco's he raised his hand up and brushed the orange tips of her hair off her sweaty brow. Coco blushed and her mind was suddenly yanked back to her conversation with Velvet on their shopping trip.

"Coco be honest with me…you're getting these clothes to try and catch Anon's eye and not for the free drinks, right?"

"Why would I do that Velv? We're just friends and besides, he already saw me topless anyway. I don't need to put myself out there for him."

Velvet sighed and folded her arms. "If you say so Coco…"

Coco put her hands around Anon's neck and rested her forehead on his as they swayed back and forth. She wasn't sure if the alcohol was making her feel this way or if it was the memory of what Velvet said to her, but whatever it was she knew there would be no turning back from what she was about to do. With one smooth motion Coco pulled her forehead away and then brought her lips up to his and kissed him. Upon feeling Coco's lips, Anon's eyes got wide and he instinctively pulled back trying to process what just happened. He saw the expression on Coco's face go from normal to shocked. She was about to open her mouth to apologize, but before she could say anything he took a deep breath and returned the kiss with a deep passionate one of his own. Coco relaxed and closed her eyes, savoring the moment in the crowded dance floor. A short time later they pulled apart then blushed as their eyes met again. Without a word, they left the dance floor holding hands and headed over to the lounge area to relax. They found a couch in the corner and sat down. Coco rested her head on his shoulder without a word.

"So…" Anon started

Coco smiled, then put a finger to his lips. "Don't ruin the moment by saying something cliché like 'That was pretty great.' Or anything along those lines."

Anon laughed. "Sure thing Coco, sorry about that."

He put his arm around her shoulders and rested his head on hers. A waitress walked by and more drinks were ordered. They held onto each other and talked for a while about nothing in particular, but still enjoying each other's company. Coco shifted her position and laid her head on his lap, noting Anon's eyes wander repeatedly over to her thigh highs as she did so. She made a mental note that she would have to incorporate them into more of her outfits. Regardless of where this lead, the opportunity to tease him further was simply too good to pass up, she thought with an impish grin. Anon stretched and yawned. It was getting late and they had been in the hot stuffy club for what felt like hours. He was about to suggest they call it a night, when Coco whispered to him. "I'm kind of tired Anon. Want to head back to the dorm?"

"Yeah I think so, I'm pretty worn out myself." Anon responded, yawning again.

"Alright, let me just go find Velvet and let her know we're heading out."

She was about to head into the dance floor to begin her search, but then met Velvet and Yatsu entering the lounge area.

"There you are Velv! Listen, we're calling it a night and heading back to Beacon. We'll catch you later alright? Don't have too much fun with Yatsu now!" She winked as she headed out of the club with Anon.

Velvet looked at Yatsu then back out the door in shock.

"Yatsu am I seeing things or were Coco and Anon actually holding hands?" Velvet asked her stoic partner.

Yatsu turned around and squinted his eyes at the retreating couple. "Yes Velvet they are indeed holding hands." A trace of surprise had crept into his normally calm demeanor.

Velvet smirked and continued to the lounge with her boyfriend.


	6. Chapter 6

Coco and Anon arrived at the dorms from Junior's club still holding hands.

"So, you want to come in and hang and maybe watch some Schneeflix?" She asked as she unlocked the door.

"I'd love to Coco, but to be honest I don't really trust myself to not do something stupid once I'm in there tonight,"

Coco laughed. Putting her arms around his neck she gazed into his eyes and smiled impishly. "Oh my, such a gentleman." Then planted her lips on his for a goodnight kiss.

After the kiss Anon made his way back to his dorm. When he opened the door, he found Hazel resting on her bed reading a book. She looked kind of surprised to see him back this soon, moreso to see him walking in with a goofy grin on his face.

"So..." She began, the tiniest bit of curiosity creeping into her voice. "...how'd it go?"

"It was fantastic Hazel! We hung out and drank a bunch, we danced, and then when the music got slower something wonderful happened." Anon said as he plopped down onto his bed

Hazel's eyebrow cocked upward. Anon wasn't like Ulysses who loved talking about his "conquests", but he was still a guy in the end. Bracing herself for the worst she pried further. "What happened?"

"Well we worked up a bit of a sweat dancing, we were just holding onto each other and swaying to the slow music. I reached my hand up and brushed her hair off her forehead, then she started blushing and she kissed me! I was shocked at first, but after my mind kind of processed what happened, I just...I kissed her back, and we just spent the rest of our time there cuddling in the lounge talking."

Hazel's eyebrow was now in danger of leaving her scalp. "That's it? Nothing else happened?"

Anon looked back at her, a little confused. "Well yeah, I mean ok there was the goodnight kiss when we got back to her dorm, but other than that, it was a pretty awesome night!" Anon couldn't help but grin as he recalled the events of the night over and over in his head.

Hazel sighed and looked back down at her book. "Look anon I'm glad you had a great time, but don't read too much into it. I mean you guys were drunk after all..."

"Oh yeah, I know Hazel. I'll have to have the 'so…last night was a thing' talk with her later this week and see where we stand now." Anon responded as he got up and went to the bathroom to get ready for bed

Coco was in bed alone wishing the rest of her team or at least Velvet was back in the dorm so she could talk to them about what had happened tonight. Even having Yatsu here to talk to would have been welcome at this point. Sighing in frustration she rolled over again in her bed, trying to get comfortable. As she lay there on her side, her eyes fell upon her scroll resting on her nightstand. On a whim she grabbed it and snapped a picture of her and the empty spot next to her on the bed. Switching to her messaging program she attached the photo with a "Wish you were here" note and hit SEND. Blushing, she put it back on her nightstand and finally fell asleep.

The next morning Anon and Hazel were getting ready to go to breakfast while the rest of their team slept in. Before heading out the door Anon grabbed his scroll off his nightstand and noticed he had a new message, but decided to check it later since he was pretty hungry. Joining Hazel and some of their other friends in the cafeteria, he tucked into a plate of waffles, eggs, and hash browns while talking about their plans for summer break. The general consensus was that most of them would stay on campus since they lived nearby, but others lived further outside of the city and mentioned they would be returning home for at least a couple of weeks.

One by one their friends left until it was just Anon and Hazel left at the table. Anon decided to check the message he got earlier this morning. His fork clattered noisily to his plate and his face turned about the same shade as the ketchup he had sprinkled on his eggs.

Hazel noticed the sudden change in color on his face. Rolling her eyes she commented "Ugh…what did she send you now?"

Anon didn't reply, but just showed her his scroll. The photo was displayed across Anon's scroll with the accompanying caption. Hazel was actually surprised. Judging by Anon's reaction, this was rather tame compared to what she had expected.

They were silent for a few seconds before Anon finally asked "You think she sent it last night?"

"That definitely seems possible, but why would she do that? It doesn't seem like her." Hazel responded doubtfully.

"Maybe she was still riding that emotional high from what happened at the club last night."

"Either way still be careful. I don't want to be the one to say I told you so when the bubble bursts and she moves onto another guy, but…yeah." She concluded sympathetically.

"Yeah…well even if we do go back to just being friends...I'd be fine with that I guess." Anon said, with a hint of sadness in his voice.

Hazel sighed and said "Look Anon, I'm not trying to rain on your parade. I just care about you and don't want to see you get hurt. We're going to be heading out on missions soon and I and the rest of our team need you to have a clear head on your shoulders, understand?"

Anon looked at the message. Hazel's observations and his emotions were all competing against each other inside of his head. He stared at the message for a moment longer before coming to a decision. "Hell with it..." He pulled up his messaging program and texted back "Wish I was too..." and hit SEND. Hazel looked up from her plate. "What was that?" Anon shook his head. "Oh nothing, just talking to myself..."

Coco yawned then winced as she stirred in her bed. Her body was constantly reminding her of the drinks she had last night and it was in no hurry to extricate itself from under the covers. After a few more minutes of laying there however, her sense of responsibility finally overrode her body's desire to stay in bed. Her eyes still closed she fumbled around for her sunglasses to put them on. She could feel the sunlight coming through the window and judging by the stinging sensation it generated through closed lids she felt her eyes would burn in their sockets if she dared open them fully. It certainly wasn't the worst hangover she had endured, she actually had an appetite along with the headache and sensitive eyes so that was a plus. Still...on the whole she preferred waking up without her head feeling like it was trying to split itself in half. She sat up and stretched then got some aspirin out of her nightstand drawer and went to the bathroom to get some water.

As Coco exited the bathroom with her cup of water she heard her scroll ping to let her know she has a new message. She sat on her bed, popped the aspirin in her mouth, and downed about half of her drink while seeing what the message was.

"Wish I was too…" She read aloud. "What are you on about Anon...?" She muttered.

She flipped through her message history and found last night's message. The half empty cup fell to the ground splashing her bare feet as she gaped at the message on her scroll. Memories of last night started flashing through her head as her heart beat rapidly in her chest. The drinking, the dancing, that lingering kiss...and then that message.

"Oh God, please don't tell me I really sent that to him." She called out to the room as her head slumped down to her knees.

Just then Velvet walked in the room. Seeing her team leader hunched over immediately made her think the worst. "Coco! Are you sick? Hold on I'll get the trashcan!" She was already halfway to the one by her desk when Coco waved her off.

"No Velv, I'm fine. I'm not gonna throw up. I just…" She let out a heavy sigh and held up her scroll for Velvet to see the message that had turned Coco's morning upside down.

Velvet wanted to hug Coco and tell her how happy she was for her, but seeing her head still slumped over on her knees stopped her.

"Coco…is everything alright?" Velvet asked as she made her way over to her leader and sat down next to her.

Coco lifted her head and looked at Velvet, her face contorted in anguished confusion. "I dunno Velv…I had a blast last night…I drank a lot…I felt…things I haven't really felt before and then to top it off...we kissed and then came back here and then…"

Velvet held her hands to her mouth. "Coco! Did you...? Did the two of you...and he LEFT right after!?" Velvet appeared equal parts amazed and infuriated at the revelation.

"What?! No! Velv, that never…just no. We came back here I invited him in he declined and we kissed goodnight. That was it…until I saw the message that I apparently sent him last night before I passed out."

"Oh..." Velvet sat quietly as an awkward silenced filled the room. After a few minutes with neither one speaking, Velvet finally spoke up.

"Soooo...what are you going to do Coco? He texted you back, that sounds to me like he's interested in you at least!"

"Well..." Coco fidgeted with her pajamas as she avoided Velvet's gaze. "...I was hoping I could just crawl back under the covers and wait for this to blow over honestly..."

"Coco!" Velvet exclaimed sharply.

Coco raised her hands in mock surrender. "I know I know Velv, it was just a joke, well sort of anyway."

"I know you're feeling rather nervous right now, but you are going to have to talk to him. Communication is a must in situations like this. Its actually one of the things I like most about Yatsu. He always has a way with words." Velvet said with her face turning a light shade of red.

Coco raised an eyebrow. "Just to be clear...we are talking about our Yatsu right?"

Velvet giggled. "He is rather talkative once he opens up to you."

Coco shrugged not wanting to push that topic further. She was lucky to get more than ten words out of him in a day, and that was only if he had that tea he liked so much at breakfast.

"I guess I could talk to him Velv, but I don't know. I mean, I broke my number one rule of don't get…"

"Rules are meant to be broken Coco." Velvet interrupted forcefully, her eyes flashed with an intensity Coco had never seen before.

Coco jerked back in slight surprise. "Wow Velvet…I never pegged you for the assertive type where did that come from?"

Velvet smiled, blushing as she broke eye contact and looked down. "Well lets just say I've picked up on some of your habits."

Coco sighed with a small smile, then got to her feet. "Alright. I guess I'll get changed and go talk to him about last night..."

"That's great. Just do be careful with your words." Velvet cautioned.

"My words...?"

"Don't open with "We need to talk." That usually means something bad is about to happen. Puts them on the defensive." She finished with a warm smile of her own.

Coco chuckled and pulled up the messaging app on her scroll. Finding Anon in her contacts she popped open a text window and began to type.

"So…last night was a thing. Want to come over and talk about it?"

Twenty minutes later there was a knock on the door and Coco tensed up.

"I don't think I can do this Velv, I just want to go back to way things were before last night!" An edge of panic was evident on her voice as she tried to bunch the covers of her bed around her like an impromptu pillow fort.

"Just give it a shot Coco! Ok so you guys might decide to go back to being friends or something. If not, then who knows you might end up liking the whole "relationship" thing. But you won't know until you talk to him ok?" Velvet said with a warm hug.

Coco relaxed a bit in Velvet's embrace. She was right. Inwardly Coco couldn't believe that she had let herself get this worked up over all of this. She had faced hordes of Grimm without breaking a sweat and here she was trying to do the best impression of a Mistralian Mole-Rat and burrow under the covers.

Taking a deep breath she pulled herself from Velvet's arms and went over to open the door. "Hey…you." She blurted out, turning a deep shade of red in the process.

It turned out that both of them appeared equally nervous about this meeting. The sight of each other's blushing faces immediately lessened the tension and caused them both to smile at one another.

"Yeah…hey. Can I come in?" He asked haltingly.

"Sure" She stepped out of the way to let him in. Anon took a few steps inside. Despite visiting Coco's room several times before, it never had felt as small as it did now. Taking a quick look around he noticed Velvet doing her best to appear invisible by curling up on her bed with a large book. The attempt almost worked if Velvet hadn't been holding the book upside-down.

"So…" Anon said rubbing the back of his head as he turned to look at Coco.

"Yeah...about last night...I had a great time...and I think you're a great kisser..." Coco seemed to stammer to a halt as she looked at Anon, her usual assertiveness failing her.

"Oh! Well, I'm glad! Er glad that I'm good-I mean glad that you liked..." Anon began to sputter himself then laughed. "Ahhh this is awkward..."

Coco laughed as well. "Glad to see I'm not the only one feeling the same way."

Seeming to draw strength from the diffusing tension he continued.

"Look Coco. I just want to say, I had a really awesome time last night. And that regardless of how much we had to drink, I really enjoyed myself...and I umm...hope you did too..." He finished, his face blushing slightly to match Coco's.

"Yeah…so did I. Sorry I'm not really good in these situations."

"What kind of situations?"

"This…" She gestured with her hands between the two of them "The whole, you know…relationship thing." She finished hurriedly.

"Really? I would've never guessed that… Oh man I hope that didn't come out sounding douchey, because I totally didn't mean it that way."

Coco chuckled. "The thing is, I've never had something like this...never really go this far. Usually it's just a coffee shop visit, a dinner or a movie and leave it at that. I've never...taken things further than that, and I've been happy with that..."

"Oh…" Anon said he could already hear Hazel's words from earlier playing over and over in his head

"But..." She continued. Anon looked up to her. She had taken off her glasses. "I...wouldn't mind...trying something new. With you...that is if...you want to as well...?" She asked looking at Anon with an expectant expression.

Upon hearing Coco say those words Hazel's warnings were obliterated from his memory faster than a dust grenade could have done it. His eyes went wide with excitement and he couldn't help but crack the biggest smile he'd ever had. "Y-yes I mean yeah. That sounds great I'd love-I mean I'd like that a lot."

From the back of the room a faint squeal was heard as Velvet tried to contain her happiness for Coco.

"Awesome. So there's this movie I have been wanting to see, but its more of a date movie so what do you say? Think you can handle another evening with me?" Coco said her sense of confidence returning.

"Sounds like a good time to me!" Anon responded enthusiastically.

"Wonderful!-" She clapped her hands together then moved in closer to inspect Anon's shirt.

"-But first things first, we need to go shopping..." She observed seriously while shaking her head.

"S-Shopping? For what?" Anon stuttered in confusion.

"...that shirt with those pants…really Anon? I thought you had better fashion sense than that!" She said with a wink and wolf grin.

"Oh come on Coco, I just threw them on because I rushed over here!" Anon responded with a laugh.

"Fair enough, don't think you've wormed your way out of one of my shopping expeditions though. Clothes do make the man after all, especially if you're going to be dating someone like me."

Anon was about to ask what kind of expedition Coco was talking about when his scroll started ringing. It was Ulysses. He groaned inwardly. Why now? Knowing him he probably just heard about what happened to him last night from Hazel and wanted all the juicy details about it.

"Gotta run?" She asked him.

"Yeah. Duty calls..." He responded with a shrug and a smile.

She grabbed him and pulled him in for a deep passionate kiss that lingered longer than all of their previous ones combined. They pulled their lips apart in a daze. Anon was too stunned by the intensity to do much of anything but grin. There wasn't any alcohol to muddy the waters this time. This was here and now in broad daylight with nothing to confuse the issue.

With a gentle pat on his chest Coco leaned in and whispered "Just a little something to keep your mind on me until our date." She pulled away and headed over to the bathroom to get ready for the day. Anon said goodbye to Velvet and headed out, certain that regardless of what happened today, it was going to be alright.


	7. Chapter 7

Coco emerged from the shower lost in her own thoughts. She had come to Beacon to be the one of the best huntresses around. Certainly the most fashionable at the very least. In her opinion half the students here didn't even know the first thing about color coordination, let alone matching proper tops with bottoms. Enduring the trials in her freshman year like all the other novices, she had even managed having a bit of fun along the way, but never had she imagined finding herself in this sort of predicament. Well, "predicament" might be too harsh, but she certainly hadn't expected to be contemplating a serious relationship with another hunter, at least not one lasting longer than the duration of a movie or dinner as many of her previous attempts had resulted in. She was so deep in thought that it wasn't until she felt something latching onto her before she snapped out of the reverie and realized she wasn't in the bathroom anymore.

"I'm so happy for you Coco. I really am. It's so nice seeing you like this!" Velvet practically squealed with quiet intensity.

"I think I can safely assume you mean something other than me wearing nothing but a towel Velv?" Coco replied with a smirk.

Velvet blushed then averted her gaze slightly while clutching her arm. "Wha?! I mean-! Well I mean you finally opened up to someone! For real this time and not by teasing them half to death!"

"Ahh, well that's true I suppose. If anything I actually have you to thank for that." Coco smiled, returning Velvet's hug as she headed to her dresser.

"Huh? What for? You were the one doing the talking..." Velvet asked arching an eyebrow.

"True, but it was your observations during our shopping trip that caused me to take a chance that night. You also helped me through the aftermath the next morning. If you hadn't walked in when you did I probably would have pretended like the whole thing never happened."

She frowned at the thought then went on.

"Actually, I think I'm going to ease up on the teasing for a bit and give this a serious shot."

"Oh, that's wonderful news!" Velvet exclaimed brightly before she realized something and blushed further."Soooo I guess now would be a bad time to mention that I told him how you used to tease everyone all the time then...?" Velvet mentioned offhandedly.

"What?!" Coco exclaimed as the morning's feeling of dread returned.

A few halls away, Anon walked into his dorm and was greeted by a punch in the arm.

"There he is, Mr. Ladykiller himself! So, I hear you and Coco got together last night, eh?" Ulysses grinned.

Anon looked over towards Hazel whose face was reddening behind her book. She mouthed the words "I'm sorry!" and buried herself back under the pages. Frowning slightly, he turned back to Ulysses.

"Kind of, but it's not what you think man. Really." He gave a quick recap of how their night at the club went, careful not to mention anything about the kisses Coco and he had shared. Ulysses was a good friend and a pretty good hunter, but when it came to discussing relationship stuff beyond holding hands, it often led to conversations that made Anon wonder if Ulysses didn't have a portable porn shop buried in that head of his. Right about when it looked like Ulysses was going to start interrogating him for more, his scroll beeped loudly interrupting the conversation. He pulled it out and glanced at the screen, frowning in irritation.

"Ah man already? Just when things were getting interesting. Hey I gotta go but we'll talk later ok?" He waved lazily and hurried out of the dorm leaving the two remaining teammates in uncomfortable silence.

Hazel finally peeked out from her book, her face still blushing at Ulysses' antics. "I'm sorry Anon. He started going on about this girl he met last night, and I really didn't care to hear another episode of his sexual conquests. So I uhh...just said the first thing that came to my head to change the subject. I uh, might have mentioned you had shared a moment with Coco last night and...I'm really sorry..." She apologized quietly.

He couldn't deny he was a bit irritated at having to deal with Ulysses this early in the relationship, especially since that would probably mean daily requests-no demands for progress on how far he was getting with Coco. What if he wanted to come along on a double date with one of his many hookups? Anon pinched his nose as he thought about that pleasant thought. He imagined if Coco didn't break up with him after one of those disasters Ulysses would probably end up in the hospital at the very least.

He finally looked up with a shrug. "Don't worry about it. We all know how Ulysses can be...well...Ulysses. He'd have found out anyway sooner or later, I swear the guy has a nose for this stuff."

"Wish he had half as good a nose for detecting Grimm." She grumped. "For the supposed scout of our team, he seems to lead Grimm to us rather than the other way around." She finished to Anon's chuckling.

Coco exited the cafeteria line and walked over to the table usually favored by her team. If anyone had been paying attention to her they would have been surprised to see what she was doing. Normally a slow eater who took her time with her meals (much to her teammates annoyance), her tray had barely hit the table before she was already attacking her burger, quickly ripping off the foil wrapper and and tearing large chunks from the sandwich with her teeth. She had been so wound up thinking about her situation she hadn't managed to eat all day, but when presented with the smell of the cafeteria, her stomach had reasserted itself and demanded it be satisfied. She had already moved on to the fries before a voice made her look up.

"This seat taken?" Coco's face lit up as she recognized Anon's voice.

"Its all yours." Coco answered, gulping down an entire mouthful of salad.

Anon joined her and placed his tray down.

"So, whats up?" He asked, eying the miniature feast laid out on her tray.

"Not much..." She replied, continuing to attack her salad to hide her mounting nervousness. "Hangover is just about gone, so figured I would grab a bite to eat."

Anon couldn't help but chuckle. "A bite huh? We talking human or Grimm sized bites now?" He grinned motioning to the several sandwiches and sides on her tray.

"A lady has a right to get hungry Anon!" She shot back though not without a smile of her own. "Besides unless my eyes are mistaken, you've got quite the feast on your tray as well."

Anon hung his head in mock surrender. "Ok I deserved that one, can't really hide a quad-chiliburger anyway." He groaned then looked up. "So…um Coco, I was wondering..."

"Hmm?" She returned the look wiping her mouth.

"Well...I wanted to talk about our upcoming date, you know kind of figure out what kind of things you'd like to do? I remember you mentioning something about a movie." Anon asked, his cheeks turning red.

"Tut tut Anon, isn't it considered bad form when the boy needs to ask his date what to do?" She grinned wickedly. "At least that's what all my previous dates decided not to do and look where it got them?"

Seeing the look of panic on Anon's face she quickly followed up. "That was a joke. Really. And that's very sweet of you asking that of me."She thought for a second. "Last I checked the latest Heist movie is out, then there's that movie adaptation about the Thrashball controversy, and the Mogar movie just came out this weekend, so that should literally be a bloody good time."

Anon blinked in surprise. He hadn't been expecting Coco to be that knowledgeable about what was playing in the theaters, let alone showing interest in movies like...well movies he normally wouldn't have considered "date" movies. Then again Coco wasn't like most girls...who else did he know who could color coordinate and accessorize a GAU-3 portable Minigun?

"Nice choices...I'm surprised you even knew about Mogar..."

"Just because I'm dressed to impress doesn't mean I don't keep up with pop culture and the like. I find it helps take my mind off of things..." She blushed and placed her hand on his.

"Hopefully I'm not one of them?" Anon's face blushed in return as he grasped her hand. Before he could say anything else they felt someone flop down on the table with them.

"I can't believe they were out of salad! I was only 15 minutes late to the start of-Oh Hey Anon! I thought it was just going to be Coco and myself here since Yatsu and Fox are off..."

Velvet's voice trailed off as she saw the clasped pair of hands. "Oh bollocks I am so sorry Coco! Should I leave you two alone?" She quickly made to stand back up.

"Of course not Velv!" Coco said cheerily as their hands quickly came apart. "Come now dear sit here and join us!" She motioned to the space beside her.

"A-Are you sure Coco? I don't want to interrupt." Velvet hovered indecisively next to them.

"Sit!" Coco jerked her finger at the space again and Velvet complied with a small squeak. "Besides hon, without you this wouldn't be possible." She gestured between herself and Anon.

"Yeah Velvet, you've been quite the matchmaker from what I'm hearing." Anon commented with a warm smile of his own.

Coco continued to praise Velvet until she went scarlet and buried her face in her hands mumbling something indecipherable to the pair of them.

"Oh no, did I lay it on too thick? I'm so sorry Velvet I didn't mean to make you cry." Coco patted her on the shoulder for a few minutes while Velvet composed herself. Finally Velvet looked up.

"Its ok Coco just...next time warn me before you practice your maid of honor toast for the wedding."

The week continued on, seeming to both speed up and slow down at random, ratcheting up Coco's nerves until the night of the date finally arrived, with Coco buried neck deep in her closet. She frantically searched the sagging racks of tops, stopping occasionally to pull a shirt down to see if it went with the jeans she had already decided upon. Coming across another top that she had just looked at not a minute prior, she slammed it back onto the rack with a frustrated sigh.

"Everything alright Coco?" Velvet looked up from her bed.

"Sorry Velv...didn't mean to make so much noise..." She said apologetically then furrowed her brow in mounting frustration. "I just can't find anything to wear with these jeans. "

"Well you could always go like that. I'm sure Anon wouldn't mind." Velvet chuckled then saw the look on Coco's face.

"Maybe if we were just chilling here I would." She grumped looking in the mirror at herself. Her reflection showed her wearing the jeans that had taken the better part of the afternoon to decide upon, and her favorite bra.

"I have to admit, I've never seen you dress so casually for a date before Coco, you should do this more often, you like nice!"

"Keep making comments like that Velv and I'll start thinking you just like seeing me in various states of undress." She smirked over her shoulder then went back to the mirror.

Velvet blushed and laughed nervously before going back to her laptop. Coco dove back into the depths, pulling the racked clothes from side to side in a blur as she tried to find something-ANYTHING that would go with her jeans. She was the fashionista of Beacon Academy! How could she not have a top that went with what had to be the most plain pair of fucking jeans in existence!? Her search stopped cold as she reached the end of the rack. There, shoved up against the wall of her closet was a distant memory, one that she had long since confined to the back of her mental closet.

How long had it been? A year now? More? Her eyes fixated on the brown long sleeved top with lace patterns going from the elbow down. A gift from one of her exes. Some fashion design student she met at a show a year or two ago, managed to convince her to be his model for class. At the time she had been pretty excited to help out someone "in the biz" as it were. The possibility of being on the top of a new fashion trend, or access to the most glitzy industry parties in downtown Vale was too tempting to pass up, especially for someone like her. Their first date had been her first modeling "gig", she had tried out several pieces from his first collection, each more extravagant than the rest. The rest followed easily enough, or as well as could be juggling learning how to be a huntress with an equally nascent modeling job. Three months, all passing in a glitzy, cloth wrapped blur. All to end on a cold afternoon of their three month anniversary. She had been wearing this very shirt...

She felt the crushing pain of her heart being broken all over again as the memory of that dumb bitch coming out of the store on Main Street came back to her.

Holding his hand.

Kissing him.

Her boyfriend.

It played across her mind over and over again.

The canceled dinner date. The confrontation the next day. The pitiful excuses he tried to offer, trying to justify his two timing, as if that would somehow make it better. Make it easier for him to just...give up on her. Even now she could see the fake hurt expression in his eyes, the inability to man up to the fact he had been caught red handed. She was surprised she hadn't gotten rid of the damn thing, but here it was, shoved in the back and slightly wrinkled as a result. Still…it looked decent enough. Simple, well constructed, showed off her figure nicely. Maybe a sign for a fresh start? Get rid of the bad memories and replace them with better ones?

"So, what do you think Velv?" Coco said as she exited the closet.

"You still have that? I thought you threw it away after the..." Velvet stopped, too shocked to speak further.

"Yeah...ghost from the past looks like."

Over in team AHWU's dorm Anon was having a fashion emergency of his own.

"What about this Hazel too much or not enough?"

He was wearing the same shirt he had worn at the club plus some simple black slacks and a tie.

Hazel couldn't help but laugh at the sight. "Anon you are going to a movie, not some four star restaurant downtown! Loosen up a little." She paused looking it over. "Besides, that's the same shirt you wore on that club date, take it from a girl, it's bad form to wear the same outfit two dates in a row."

"Oh damn you're right, what about the tie though? I don't know how to pair these damn things." Anon looked embarrassed as he took it off.

Hazel went on, gesturing towards him. "Seriously though, I mean the whole outfit. A button up shirt and slacks with a tie? That's not something to wear to the local cineplex, that's 'meet the parents for the first time' level of threads."

Anon hung his head slightly as the observation struck home. "I know, I know...it's just..." He looked up almost pleadingly. "You've seen her though, she always dresses super nice! I mean dammit she's been in fashion magazines for crying out loud! I need to step up, take this more seriously you know?" He paused then shrugged. "I guess I just want to impress her really."

Hazel walked over and clapped him solidly on the shoulder. "Hey now! Do you think she would've agreed to go out with you if she wasn't impressed by you? She's going out with you because of who you are, not some poser gussied up in some designer threads." She fixed him with that same look of patient frustration she had acquired dealing with AHWU's antics over the past several months. "Seriously, I know it's past the point of cliche, but be yourself. That's what she wants in the end."

"I guess I could change my shirt..." He smiled lamely.

Hazel gave him another look. "The pants too."

Anon turned and looked at himself in the mirror. "But...I like these pants." He protested quietly.

Hazel sighed audibly, rolling her eyes as she went back to her book. A few minutes later Anon re-emerged from the closet wearing a simple blue Polo shirt.

"Ok I think I'm ready now." Taking his scroll out to check what the weather would be like, he reached back into the closet and pulled out a jacket.

"Good idea with the jacket, goes well with the shirt." Hazel commented not looking up from her book.

Anon nodded and then headed towards the door. Just as he was about to reach for the handle the door flung open and in walked Ulysses.

"Oh hey Anon why are…oh that's right! Tonight's the big night isn't it?" He grinned then looked Anon over. "Aren't you a little too dressed up though?"

Anon looked down at his outfit then back at Ulysses. "You think this is too much?" He then looked back at Hazel who frantically shook her head behind her book.

"Eh, it's not my style man, but whatever works at the end of the night." He said with a wink and a nudge. He then snapped his fingers.

"Speaking of which, let me snag something for your date!" Ulysses disappeared into his section of the closet.

Anon walked over to Hazel's bed and slumped down on the edge. "I almost made it." He grumbled.

Hazel placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder before he continued. "Ten lien says he walks out of there and tosses me a condom or two."

Hazel smiled. "If you want to borrow some money Anon just ask. I'm not interested in taking on losing bets."

They shared a laugh as Ulysses returned. True to Anon's word, a pair of foil packets sailed through the air and landed next to them. Anon looked up.

"I appreciate the gesture man but I'm not looking to score on the first date." Anon said confidently.

"Technically it's your second if my intel is correct about what happened at the club." He winked. "Plus you never know man. She might be wild dude! Oh sure she dresses up fancy and all but just means she's a frea-" He stopped as he caught the death glare coming from behind Hazel's book.

"-ffrriendly lady! Who's totally not got any bad habits or anything! Yeah! Anyhow, get your ass moving man, you'll be late!" He practically threw Anon from the room before he had a chance to say more. Seconds after the door closed it opened again and the two condoms flew out, following him out the door.

"I really don't need these man." Anon said slightly annoyed.

"You never know man, I mean from what I hear you turned down her offer to come over after the club because-"

"Because I didn't want to ruin the night we had with drunken sex!"

Ulysses jerked back from the outburst like he had just taken a punch. He rubbed the back of his head by way of apology. "Sorry bro, I didn't know you liked her that much, I'll take them back if you want."

Anon sighed. "No, I'm sorry I shouldn't have snapped at you. You have your methods, I have mine." He tossed a condom back to Ulysses "I'll keep one just in case but I'm 99.9 percent sure it won't go that far, but I appreciate the thought."

Ulysses smacked him playfully on the shoulder. "Hey man no problem, now go out there and have a good time alright?"

"Sure I'll catch you later." And with that he turned and headed down the hallway.

Back in her drom, Coco sat on her bed in contemplation of the shirt, trying to make sense of the feelings she had long since thought buried.

"I dunno Coco maybe it's a sign-" Velvet began.

"A sign that this relationship is doomed to fail? I should just call it off and save myself the pain." A very uncharacteristic note of panic was in her voice.

Velvet walked over and hugged her best friend. "Its ok Coco. You said it yourself, it's in the past. Focus on tonight with Anon. You guys get along great together and you deserve to be happy."

Velvet's words of encouragement bled the tension off as Coco sank into Velvet's embrace.

"Thanks Velv, I still have my doubts, but you're right I should just enjoy tonight." With a hug of her own.

There was a knock on the door. Velvet immediately felt Coco tense up again, it felt like she was being squeezed by an anaconda.

"Coco…can't…breathe…" Velvet struggled to get the words out.

"S-sorry Velv." Coco said letting go. With a deep breath she stood up and walked over to the door.

"Have fun Coco and make sure to text me if you want the room empty when you come back ok? I don't mind." Velvet winked at her with a small giggle.

Coco nodded and blushed as she opened the door, only to have her jaw nearly hit the floor. "Uh Anon we are still just heading to the movies right?" She asked arching an eyebrow as she tried to regain her composure. The sight of Anon in slacks and a polo was overwhelming. She never knew he could coordinate an outfit like this, let alone shine his shoes! For the first time she could recall, Coco Adel felt underdressed for the occasion.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, you are dressed kind of…formal really. Don't get me wrong I appreciate the effort!" She went on hurriedly, noting the hurt expression forming on his face. "It's super sweet, but I feel really underdressed now, you uh…sort of have me at a disadvantage." Coco mumbled, grabbing her left arm with her right hand.

Anon started rubbing the back of his head "Oh sorry about that, I uh…well I can go change if you want…"

Velvet looked over and saw the two of them just standing in the doorway like knots on a log. With a sigh of amused exasperation, she decided to do something about it. Bounding over to Coco in a few leaps she merrily pushed her out the door into Anon resulting in a squeal of surprise from Coco.

Velvet's push was a little too enthusiastic, whether that was intentional Coco didn't know, but she suddenly found herself mere inches from Anon's face as she thumped into his chest. Their eyes met, but Coco averted her gaze fairly quickly to keep herself from blushing again. Velvet cleared her throat and Coco snapped back to reality.

"All right all right, we're going Velv." Coco took Anon's hand into hers and they headed off to the theatre.

After buying their tickets and snacks they settled into their seats. At the last minute Coco had decided on checking out the new Mogar movie on account of hearing that it covered a recent arc in his comics. Much to Anon's surprise, it turned out Coco knew more about Mogar's history than he had, having come across several side issues he didn't know existed.

"Oh and there was that one time he threw his sword at the Mad King's henchman it got stuck about halfway inside his head and he pulled it out oh man something like that would look so cool in live action." She gushed.

'...or maybe she just likes the over the top violence...' Anon thought with a small smile. What a woman she had turned out to be. Classy dresser, slayer of Grimm, top student, yet liked cheeseburgers and comic books...he either was the luckiest hunter in Remnant or this was a dream he didn't want to wake up from. Anon leaned back and prepared to enjoy the movie.

About halfway through, it had finally slowed down enough that Coco felt safe to lean back into her seat from the edge she had been sitting on all evening. As she relaxed back into her seat Anon gently slipped his arm around her shoulders right as her head leaned back, trapping his arm in place. "Well well..." She whispered in quiet amusement. "...someone is feeling rather bold aren't they?"

"Uh...well I uh..." Anon tried to explain.

"You don't have to apologize, I think it's sweet." She whispered, leaning further against his shoulder as the movie continued. And what a movie it turned out to be. Mogar saved the day and vowed to track down Flynt Coal for more answers as the credits finally rolled.

"Guess that's our cue then..." Coco murmured reluctantly as the theater emptied. The two of them stood with Anon gently taking her hand as they picked their way out of the popcorn crusted aisles, and headed back out towards the dorms. As they were walking through town and discussing the movie, Coco caught a glimpse of one of her favorite shops as they passed by. The display caught her eye and she stopped to window shop. "Oooo they have their new collections in!" She purred then turned to him. "I'm thinking a night out on the town for our next date. I would say shopping trip but gotta keep it fun for both of us." She wore an impish grin he couldn't help but enjoy.

"As long as I'm with you I'm sure I'll have fun Coco." Anon said as he took her hand again. She tried and failed to keep herself from blushing, the small sappy-romantic part of her couldn't help but squeal at the comment. Still, she couldn't just stand here blushing like an elementary school girl! What should she say? The movie?...no they already talked about that...maybe the coffee shop? Ugh! So cliche, and it's too late for coffee! Just as she felt about out of ideas, a breeze kicked up around them causing her to shudder at the sudden chill.

"Here, put this on." Anon quickly took off his jacket and gently draped it around her shoulders.

"Thanks Anon..." Coco blushed further. Before she could say something Anon cleared his throat.

"Is it ok if I say I don't want this night to end Coco? Is there anything else you want to do?" A warm smile accompanied the request that made her insides do a somersault.

"W-well I was thinking about grabbing some coffee, but not sure I want to be up all night at least not from caffeine…" She immediately clasped a hand over her mouth as she realized what she had said. "Oh my gods I am so sorry I actually said that out loud..."

Anon had a good laugh at that one. "Don't worry about it Coco, I know you didn't really mean it like that. Plus your teasing is one of the reasons I uh, well like you. What's the phrase you like to use? Part of the whole package?"

"Matching set my dear, but I'll give you an A for the attempt." She pecked him on the cheek and wrapped her arm around his. Despite the slow pace they had taken, it seemed like too short a time before they found themselves back at her door. "Well...here we are..."

She was about to wave her scroll to unlock the door when it was forcibly yanked open. Coco jumped back with a small shout.

"Sorry about that Coco, but I heard you guys coming so I figured I'd open the door." Velvet blushed furiously as she realized what she had done.

Coco shook her head with a small chuckle. "It's alright Velv, it's the thought that counts." She reached over and drew velvet into a hug then whispered in her ear. "Thank you for pushing me to do this I had a great time tonight."

Smiling, she turned to Anon. "Anon I had a really great time tonight, thank you."

"You're very welcome, I had a great time myself." Anon smiled back.

"And who knows maybe next we'll go somewhere more suitable for the outfit you wore tonight." Then wrapped her arms around his neck for a goodnight kiss. It ended far too quickly for either of them, but in the end they had to pull apart, they could feel the excitement radiating from their resident faunus.

"See you tomorrow Anon?"

"Wouldn't miss it Coco." They embraced again before turning to head their separate ways. Coco had nearly closed the door when she realized his jacket was still on her shoulders. She quickly pulled it off and proceeded to fold it in half before the contents of the side pocket spilled all over the floor between them.

"Damn, sorry about that Anon let me get…" She was about to say when something caught her eye that made her stop short. Between some change and a pack of tissues she spotted a foil wrapper with an O shaped ring pressing through it. Her smile faded. Was he really expecting-? She wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, he had been a perfect gentleman to this point but...

The words tumbled from her lips before she had the chance to stop herself. "Looking to get laid tonight Anon?" The question was delivered with a coldness neither of them had ever heard before.

"Coco this doesn't mean...I mean Ulysses just sort of threw them at me and I-"

"Oh so this is Ulysses' doing is it?!" Coco's voice flared along with her temper. Velvet flinched as Coco's voice rang out into the hallway. "Tell me, did he give you tips on how to bed me? Am I another conquest that he gets to hear about from you when you were done with me?"

"Coco come on that's not true!" Anon protested, wondering where the hell this was coming from. "He just threw it at me as I was leaving my room, it doesn't mean anything! Wait! When did you talk to Ulysses? Other than when I introduced you I've never even seen you guys together!"

Coco snorted derisively. "I'm the one who got away Anon. Before whatever skirt he's currently chasing, he tried hitting on me. I'm familiar with his tactics and style and I frankly don't care for them. It took my boot between his legs for him to get the point but he finally understood. And now you're taking relationship advice from him..." She shook her head then turned to go back into her room. "I think we're done here Anon. Tell Ulysses he needs to work on his game and stop wearing that godawful cologne he likes to drench himself in, bloody stuff smells like lighter fluid." She slammed the door in his face. Anon just gaped, trying to comprehend what had just happened. One moment they were holding hands and now...what? Were they-? Had they just-? Too shocked to do much of anything, Anon shook his head and shuffled his way back to his room, trying to wonder what exactly he had done wrong.

Back in her room Coco ripped the top off and flung it viciously towards the wall. Amidst a hail of muttered curses the rest of her outfit joined it as she changed into her pajamas, resolving to burn them at the earliest opportunity. With an exasperated huff she flumped face down on her bed, not even bothering to brush her hair. The room went quiet for several minutes before Coco felt her bed depress slightly and a hand gently touch her shoulder.

"I'm so sorry Coco." Velvet murmured, trying to comfort her friend. "Are you going to be ok? Is there anything I can do?"

Coco tilted her head sideways to look back at her. Her eyes were red with tears. "Well it looks like the cursed shirt strikes again Velvet…only it could ruin a night as good as this was."


	8. Chapter 8

Anon stood in front of his team's dorm, unable to muster the courage to walk in. It was stupid he knew, but with everything that happened, he had become far less interested in socializing with others. Still, he had to rest somewhere, and it was his team...he sighed and walked in. Hazel and Ulysses looked up. Hazel was once again lying on her bed tucked into yet another book, Ulysses seemed to be reading something for a change, an event that would normally be cause for comment, but he couldn't bother himself to say anything. Hazel immediately sensed something was wrong, but her good manners managed to quash her burning curiosity, and couldn't bring herself to ask. Anon walked past them without a word, heading to his dresser to remove his nightclothes and head to the bathroom to get ready for bed. Turning off the water he turned to leave when a voice drifted in from the sleeping area.

"So….how did it go man?" Ulysses asked eagerly awaiting the details of the date.

Anon ignored him and started getting ready for bed.

"Anon? Is everything ok?" Hazel said, her curiosity finally winning out in her internal struggle.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I just don't really feel talking about it tonight." Anon answered curtly.

"Damn struck out huh? Happens to the best of 'em man, don't sweat it." Ulysses quipped before returning back to his book.

Hazel glared at Ulysses and was about to open her mouth but then decided to hold back. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she had a feeling that the reason for Anon's sour mood had something to do with him. Still, it was obvious Anon was in no mood to talk and it was late. She patted him gently on the back and they all tucked in for the night.

The next morning Anon woke up and eagerly grabbed his scroll. A small part of him hoped it was all a bad dream and there would be a message from Coco saying how much she loved last night and couldn't wait to do it again. Sadly no such message was there. He sat up slowly, trying to wake up and noticed that he was the only one left in the dorm room. It looked like his team must have all gone to breakfast ahead of him. He frowned at the thought of being left behind like that, but he didn't think on it too much further. He got out of bed and got ready for the day then decided to head to the cafeteria.

Anon found his team at their usual table and sat down with them. Efforts at small talk petered out quickly as he mainly responded to their questions and comments about the day with one word answers or simple grunts or nods. An awkward silence fell over the table, one that Anon was in no hurry to break as he picked his way through his eggs. Ulysses on the other hand, had other plans for him.

"So Anon, I gotta ask again. What exactly happened last night man? I mean I got that it was bad and all but...like what went down?" Hazel shot daggers in his direction before she turned to look towards Anon, wondering how he'd respond.

Anon set down his fork and replied flatly. "It was great. Perfect evening…at least until I took her back to her dorm. I had given her my jacket to wear since it had gotten cold. When she gave it back to me in front of her dorm, the condom fell out of the side pocket and the night went to shit. I tried explaining things and while she was kind of cold in her initial reaction I felt like she might be willing to listen to me...that is until I mentioned your name Ulysses." He looked over at his teammate who blinked in surprise. "That seemed to set her off something fierce. She blew up man. She didn't let me get another word in and ended up slamming the door in my face."

"Wait...she got pissed when my name came up? Why?" Ulysses paused as his gaze shifted upward as if he was trying to recall a distant memory.

"What are you getting at Ulysses?" Hazel asked. "Have you met her before Beacon?"

Ulysses scrunched his face as he made an effort at reaching back through his memory. " 'Said her name was Coco right? Likes wearing brown clothes and Berets?" He cocked an eyebrow towards Anon who nodded glumly.

Ulysses cocked his head again. The look was almost comical, similar to what he looked like when trying to do homework for Professor Oobleck. "Dust's sake man, she still remembers that? I had no idea that was a big deal!"

"What exactly was a big deal Ulysses?!" Hazel asked sharply.

Ulysses blushed slightly before answering. "Sorry if I didn't recall right away, like I said, I have no idea I even pissed her off that much. I met her at the same club a long time ago. She was flying solo and I figured I'd try my moves on her and uh...it didn't pan out. Learned my lesson, took my painkillers and moved on." He shook his head sadly. "Damn I'm sorry man. If you want I can maybe help take your mind off her, maybe talk to her or something?"

"I think you've already done enough Ulysses!" Hazel snapped. Ulysses merely raised his hands in surrender.

"Hey ease off, it was just a suggestion, I'm just trying to help out here!" He shot back.

As his teammates bickered back and forth, Anon's gaze wandered around the cafeteria. He was content to let their argument run its course until his vision came upon Coco sitting at the very same table he had sat at the beginning of the week with her planning their first date. He thought of waving to her, trying to test the waters and patch things up, it certainly couldn't hurt right?

His hand was halfway up when the sight of Coco glaring at him stopped it cold. Realizing he was looking back she quickly went back to her plate. She never looked back towards him for the rest of breakfast. Anon sighed. "I think I'm gonna head out guys I'll catch you later." He slowly made his way out of the cafeteria before anyone could object.

Over at CFVY's table, things weren't much better. Coco was merely playing with her food, her appetite diminished since she had seen Anon's attempt to wave at her. Her teammates sat around her in a tense silence, wondering what to do with their glowering team captain.

"Is everything alright Coco? You've been awfully quiet today." Fox surprised the others by being the first to broach the question.

Coco said nothing but shot a glare back that sent Fox's eyebrows up.

"Oh, right… that..." Fox responded quietly and turned back to his food, his curiosity satisfied. Coco took a few more bites of her breakfast, downed her milk and slammed the glass on the table then stormed off.

Velvet quickly tried to wolf down the remainder of her breakfast. She had just finished standing when Yatsu's hand gently touched down on her shoulder.

"I know you want to help her out Velvet, but I think she just needs to be left alone for a while. When Coco's in this mood she's not exactly the most reasonable person to deal with."

"But Yatsu she's always been there for me. I need to return the favor. She's obviously hurting right now and refuses to admit it!" Velvet pleaded while she fidgeted with her hands.

Yatsu nodded slightly before continuing. "I understand. Just be careful alright? Even as her best friend, Coco can be quite unpredictable when she's this upset. The numerous bullet holes in the trees in the school gardens will attest to that." He added with a worried smile.

Velvet nodded in acknowledgement "Thanks for the concern Yatsu. I'm sure I'll be ok." She smiled as she hugged him and ran off to catch up.

Coco had made it halfway across the courtyard when she heard Velvet yelling her name. In truth she still wanted to be alone, but she forced herself to stop to allow Velvet to catch up.

Upon reaching Coco, Velvet bent over trying to catch her breath and speak at the same time. "I know...you probably don't want to hear this but...I don't think you are really upset with Anon." She took another deep breath. "What's going on Coco?" She finally managed up stand fully back up. Her face flushed with the recent sprint.

Coco pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. "Dammit Velv, I'm not in the mood for a heart to heart. I just needed a walk to clear my head."

"Alright no problem." She raised her hands in surrender. "So where are we headed?" Velvet asked innocently.

The question caught Coco short. "I don't really have a destination in mind. Just needed some time to think...about myself and I guess Anon." His name was punctuated by an angry scowl and launched her into a vicious tirade about Anon and boys in general.

Their path took them on a meandering route through the campus. The longer they walked, the more Coco seemed to open up venting her frustration about Anon and how the date had gone south so badly. Velvet listened patiently to Coco's rant as they walked, nodding and offering sounds of agreement at the appropriate times to show that she was listening. By the time Coco had finished, they had looped nearly around the entirety of the campus, finding themselves back at their dorm. Making their way inside, they found that Yatsu and Fox hadn't come back yet for which Velvet was privately thankful. Coco plopped down on her bed, laying on top of the covers and staring blankly at the ceiling. The rant it seemed had taken most of the fight out of her.

"Alright Velv, spit it out, I can tell by your ears twitching you've got something you urgently need to say." Coco closed her eyes tiredly.

"Uhm…" Velvet began. She had been caught off guard by Coco's sudden submission. Coco's arguments usually needed a lot more back and forth to get to this point. "W-well Coco, forgive me for being so bold…" Coco grunted at the irony of the statement but said nothing else. "...but it seems you're being too hard on Anon in this situation. I think you still have unresolved issues with your ex; and it seems with Ulysses. You don't really believe Anon is like them do you?"

Coco sighed and rolled her eyes. "I appreciate the pep talk Velv, but you can't tell me that condom doesn't prove he's just like the rest of them. They don't give a shit about me as a person. I'm just another slab of meat on the rack to get their rocks off."

"Surely you don't really believe that!" Velvet exclaimed. "He's been a proper gentleman the whole time he's been with you! Has he ever done anything that would suggest he'd step out of line like that to you before?"

"Up until last night I would have said no." Coco replied coldly. "But that was before he started taking dating advice from Beacon's number one serial philanderer. I'm not some goddam trophy to be paraded around and tossed aside on a shelf Velvet! I'm not letting that happen again!" Coco nearly shouted, surprising herself at the ferocity in her voice.

Velvet's ears drooped slightly as she looked towards her team captain. "Listen Coco, I obviously can't tell you what to do here. I just want you to be happy and safe. We already have enough to deal with hunting Grimm and taking our classes. If you want to end things as they are here, I won't stop you. But please give it some thought ok? I don't think Anon is like Ulysses or the ex before him. Once you realize that, I think you'll give him another chance." She stood off the bed, face blushing nervously as she just realized she had lectured her team captain on dating boys. "I uh...I need to take a shower ok? Just call me if you need anything!" She hurried from the room.

Coco sighed and laid back down in her bed, her mind full of conflicting emotions and ideas. What Velvet said made a lot of sense, but when it came up against the backdrop of her ex, or that night with Ulysses, it all felt hollow, patronizing even. In spite of that, even as bitter as she felt right now, she couldn't deny that she had enjoyed Anon's company. The meals together, that first night at the club...hell even the date leading up to the condom incident had been a textbook example of a perfect night out.

So why did the whole thing just make her so angry? The sight of that square foil wrapper had set off alarm klaxons in her mind, sending her into a fit and slamming the door in Anon's face before he could say anything else. Had she really overreacted with all this? Turning her head towards her closet she saw a clump of fabric on the floor near the door. The material caught her eye and before she had walked over to pick it up, she knew immediately what it was.

The shirt she had worn from the date. Crushing the silken threads between her hands she scowled down at the garment. What had she been hoping for? A bit of luck? A new beginning perhaps? Coco scrunched the fabric through her fingers, wondering what this all meant. Maybe Velvet was right. Maybe she hadn't yet moved on...the fact that this shirt still existed was proof of that. She'd have to do something about that, but first she needed to talk to someone.

Coco pulled out her scroll and brought up Anon in her contacts list. She hesitated for a brief moment, wondering if this was the right thing to do before jamming her finger down on the messenger app.

"We need to talk."

Remembering the advice Velvet said about those four words, she quickly added "…about last night." to the end of it and hit send. She continued to stare at the message window for a few minutes waiting for a reply. After none came, she was about to slam it back down on her dresser when the electronic chime made her look back to the screen.

"When and where?" Was the short response.

She chuckled silently and typed back. "Rear courtyard in 15? Promise I won't bring the gun with me."

"That's a comforting thought, I'll see you there."

Coco rolled her eyes at the exchange. He was being far too chipper about all this. Still, it was worth it to at least hear what he had to say, and it would get Velvet off her back about resolving this matter. One less thing to worry about. She hopped off of her bed and made her way to the mirror to check her appearance before letting out a long sigh and heading out of the room.

Over in Anon's dorm, he quickly flicked off his scroll and grabbed his jacket as he quickly headed out of the dorm. Giving nothing more than a terse statement he'd be back, he slammed the door behind him and headed down the hall.

"Where's he headed in all of a hurry?" Ulysses turned to Hazel who hadn't looked up from her book.

"Oh I'm sure it's nothing major…" Hazel smiled to herself as she recalled the change in demeanor of their team leader seconds after receiving that last text. "...and you need to finish that assignment or we're going to get extra from Oobleck tomorrow!" She finished sharply.

Anon arrived in the courtyard and saw Coco leaning against the large red maple that marked the center of campus. His eagerness to finally get to talk with Coco again after what felt like a week of cold silence faltered for a moment. Coco said she wasn't armed...she wouldn't lie about that...would she? He shook his head.

"Ok well here goes nothing... or everything." He said to himself and made his way over to her.

"H-hey Coco." He greeted shakily, trying and failing to prevent his sense of unease from getting into his voice.

"Hey." Coco replied, standing off the tree trunk.

They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence, neither willing to make the first move in this rather tense dance. Then both tried to speak at the same time, resulting in small chuckles from both of them. "You first." Anon gestured to her politely.

"No, you go first Anon. I want to make sure you actually get to speak this time." She said with a hint of remorse in her voice as she clasped her arms together.

"Ok well um…jeez where to start." Anon said as he scratched his head contemplatively, then looked up.

"Well...I won't beat around the bush then. I really like you Coco. Pretty much since that first night at the club I think there's something between us." He paused, then looked down, his face slightly reddening at the same time.

"As for the...uh...the condom, the only reason I even took it from Ulysses was because he just wouldn't quit bugging me about it, he felt like he was doing me a favor or something."

"I know how that feels..." She muttered before motioning for Anon to continue.

"He went on saying about how he heard you invited me into your room on the night of our first kiss and tried to explain how that was a sure sign that you…" He hesitated again, his blush deepening further.

"...erm that you wanted to have sex with me. After hearing that I just blew up at him. Told him you weren't like that, and that wasn't my intention anyway. He starts giving me the hurt-friend routine and all, so I basically took it so it looked like I appreciated his advice or something." Anon continued.

He rubbed the back of his head nervously "So I took it, it got him out of my hair and I pretty much forgot about it completely." He grinned. "Our uhhh… date made it kinda easy to forget about it anyway…" He finished sheepishly.

"Well it's good to know Velvet was right about why you had it with you." Coco smiled.

Anon blinked. "Velvet? Wait what did Velvet say about-?"

Coco cut across him before he could continue. "Look Anon, I should probably explain a bit more about me and where I'm coming from in all of this. Before I met you I admit I've been a bit of a cold fish in the Beacon dating scene. Ever since my first year here, serious relationships were never really my strong suit."

She took a deep breath to steady herself, then stared hard at Anon.

"Only people I've told this to is my team. During my first year here, I was dating a fashion student I met at this show in downtown Vale. Very glitzy and glammy affair, total ambrosia for someone like me…"

She looked down and started fiddling with her hands. "He was pretty much my first real boyfriend. The honeymoon period was great. It was like I was living a dream. Here I was going to a premier hunting school and on top of that I got asked to model his designs and even worked a few shows while we were together. I got insider access to the newest designs. Even inspired a few of them…like that shirt I wore on our date…"

She finally looked up and for the first time since Anon had met her he saw genuine pain peeking out from behind those designer sunglasses she always seemed to wear. The sight was surprising enough that he almost moved to comfort her before she started speaking again.

"...that shirt...it was really special to me. My first "muse" as he put it. It was pretty successful too from what I heard later, managed to get some boutiques to carry it even…" She trailed off again as her face scrunched into an ugly scowl, her voice suddenly drifting off into a dreamy tone as she dredged up an old memory.

"I wore it on what was going to be our three month anniversary dinner. That day...I was out shopping...taking care of some last minute stuff before our dinner that evening..." Coco paused again, the pain spread past her eyes, merging with the anger crossing her face as the memory played back.

"I was just exiting a gift shop...and then...I saw him across the street. I was about to run over to him and surprise him with the cufflinks I had picked out, but…" Her eyes closed. "I guess he surprised me instead. There was another...he was with another girl. She was kissing him, holding hands like we did, not just as a friend. I felt so betrayed, I wanted to just run over there and...yell at him? Hit him? Introduce myself to his new girlfriend or something, but I was too weak to do anything. I just ran back to my dorm and stayed there the whole night and most of the next day. Bastard even had the gall to call me that night and the morning after, wondering if I was ok and all that."

She chuckled darkly. "I'm still amazed to this day how he kept the sincerity act up like that. Did he really think that I'd never find out something like that? Did he really think I was that dumb that I'd never cotton on he had someone on the side?" She spat on the ground. "Asshole kept denying it all the way to the end too, he never admitted to me that he was cheating on me too you know?"

"I'm so sorry that happened to you Coco." Anon couldn't come up with anything else to say. There just weren't the words to offer for something like that.

"Yeah, so was I if I'm being honest with myself. That first week after the breakup wasn't pretty. Hardly left my room at all. If it hadn't been for my team taking care of me…" She shook her head at the dark possibility.

"By the time the weekend rolled around, the rest of the team had the bright idea to take me out to the club to cheer me up. It actually started out well enough. I was throwing my cares away on the dance floor and the rest were off doing their own thing when this guy comes up to me and starts talking to me out of the blue. Nearly pushed him away right then and there. But he was nice enough and I was having a good time talking to him…_until _he started trying to get me to go back to his place. I tried to tell him to bugger off multiple times, but he wouldn't give up. Told me he had a reputation for making girls forget bad breaks."

Anon winced at the thought. "Fucking hell Ulysses." Anon sighed "Speaking as his team leader, I'm really sorry you had to deal with him like that, especially right after the breakup."

Coco waved at him dismissively. "No big deal really. He wasn't your teammate back then anyway, and I made sure to get the point across in the end." Coco said with a sly smile

"He uh..did mention painkillers..." Anon offered uneasily.

The two of them shared a look, then promptly burst out laughing. It felt like Anon hadn't laughed in years and laughing with Coco made it all the better for it. After getting their breath back, Coco continued on. "Anyway, after those two incidents I pretty much just shut myself in emotionally and really only communicated through sassing people to death." She looked over with an apologetic grin. "You kinda got the full treatment at the beginning as I'm sure you're now aware, sorry about that."

Anon shook his head. "N-no it's fine! I mean, it makes sense now that you've told me all this…"

Coco merely shrugged. "I figured If people just wanted to use me I would do the same to them and that was fine with me...until you came along and made me feel like I could open up again."

She walked around him. "You gave me a perspective I didn't think I'd ever see again. I liked it, it was scary at first, but honestly it feels a lot better than pushing people away all the time. You can only keep people at arm's length for so long before the arm gets tired after all. Then last night happened and I was basically in a fuck everyone and everything mood until Velvet helped talk some sense into me today. So you can thank her for this little heart to heart we're having right now." She playfully jabbed him in the arm.

"I'll be sure to do that. She's one smart huntress." He smiled warmly back at her. "So...are we...what happens now?"

There was a few minutes of awkward silence before Coco finally chimed in "Well, I plan to head to bed given the time of night." She tapped her watch. "As for you, well…what do you think?" She asked pointedly.

Anon blinked then realized what she was saying. "Maybe we could pick up where we left off?" He smiled back at her.

"Maybe. If you play your cards right." She said with a wink and a sly smile then motioned for him to walk with her.

They walked back to the dorms in a comfortable silence. Nothing more really needed to be said. Going their separate ways at team CFVY's door, Coco gently pushed the door inwards only to see a pair of fuzzy ears bouncing up and down.

"So, it went well I take it?" Velvet piped up eagerly, her tiny frame practically vibrating on her bed as she awaited Coco's return.

Coco laughed in surprise. "Bloody hell Velvet, were you waiting this whole time for me to come back?" She wanted to laugh more then saw the intense look on Velvet's face. Cripes she was serious wasn't she?

Coco finally relented with a tired smile. "Yeah Velvet, it went well. We're going to see how things play out." Coco responded to a small cheer from Velvet. Yatsu and Fox merely nodded politely then went back to their respective books, each privately happy Coco seemed to be feeling better.

Coco walked over to the closet and grabbed something off of the floor. With a questioning look from Velvet, Coco walked out of the dorm and out to the hallway, tossing the brown shirt down the chute before coming back into the room. Velvet stared back in wide-eyed amazement at what her friend just did, barely managing to eke out a muffled "Coco…" before hopping over and hugging her tight.

"Yeah, I think I'm ready to move on Velv, for real this time." Returning the hug back.

A/N: I want to thank you all for reading, following, and reviewing this. I started this story to challenge myself and see if I could do a multi chapter story. Thanks to my friends who helped me review, edit, and proof this I was able to not only do it. I was able to make one that a lot of you really enjoyed. So again thank you all so much.


End file.
